Hammer thief?

[Dave Nereson]

   ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Phil Frankenberg
  To: pianotech
  Sent: Monday, February 23, 2004 7:33 PM
  Subject: Hammer thief?


  Today I went to check on a baldwin F (7 ft) in the band room of the
college where I work. To my amazement and horror I found all the case parts
off and lying on the floor, the action slightly pulled out, every hammer,
shank, and flange assembly gone. All hammer flange screws gone and all case
part screws gone. These parts were only about a year old. The whippens(which
they left) and rest of the piano are 40yrs old. I'm wondering if someone
thought they could just put them on their own piano or if it was a prank.
Anybody else experience anything like this? I know this is kind of OT but I
just had to tell somebody who could appreciate the bizarreness of it all.

  Phil Frankenberg
  CSU Chico, Ca.

    Oh yeah, I tuned a little minipiano (73-key Lester with two-string
unisons and all single-string bass "unisons") at a club for a friend of
mine.  He couldn't take it home that night and left it in a corner.  A punk
rock show took place and the kids trashed it -- opened the lid, reached in
and broke off many hammer/shank/butt assemblies, a couple damper levers, and
even yanked out several keys.  (The fallboard just lifted off -- no key stop
rail.)
    Well, the hammers, butts, etc. I was able to replace.  But I sent the
keys in to be duplicated by either APSCO or Schaff and they did the
terriblest job imaginable.  I even sent a paper pattern of the keyframe,
similar to making a rubbing for a set of bass strings, and sample adjacent
keys.  I couldn't believe how badly they fit.  I had to relocate capstans,
balance holes, key buttons, and try to recreate as best I could the effect
of waterfall keytops, which the rest of the keyboard had.
    I've walked into band rooms (orchestra students, i.e., string players,
are usually a little more respectful of a piano) and seen music racks,
fallboards, and even grand lids removed, hinge pins missing, upright lid
hinges torn off, pianos de-tuned using a drum key, bottom panels of uprights
long gone or kicked in til they hit the plate and trapwork, casters ripped
out of their sockets from being rammed over threshholds, stale crusty
remains of sandwiches, chips, candy, gum, soft drinks, and a myriad of paper
clips, pens and pencils, crayons, thumbtacks down in the action (or even in
the hammers), marbles, love notes, hall passes, spilled or stashed
marijuana, ad infinitum.
    But not en masse removal of action assemblies!            --David
Nereson, RPT