A-440/Cracked Plate, etc.

[David Ilvedson]

Don't you think it might have been cracked before you tuned it?   

David I.



----- Original message ---------------------------------------->
From: Dave Nereson <davner@kaosol.net>
To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
Received: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 02:43:15 -0700
Subject: Re: A-440/Cracked Plate, etc.


>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Dempsey Jr., Paul E" <dempsey@marshall.edu>
>To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Sent: Friday, November 12, 2004 7:45 AM
>Subject: A-440/Cracked Plate, etc.


>> David I. said: "Why don't we ask the List if anyone has had a plate
>> crack during a pitch raise.   I've been working on pianos for 30 years
>> and it has never happened to me"

>    Yeah, I had a Baldwin console plate break on me.  It just would not stay 
>up to pitch.  I thought it was because it hadn't been tuned in a long 
>time,or not enough, or because the last tuner didn't "pound it in."  So I 
>kept pulling 'em up when all the sudden, "POW!!!!!," a rifle shot went off, 
>and I probably jumped a foot off the piano bench.  Couldn't stop shaking 
>after that.
>    What should've tipped me off was that one key started sticking and I 
>couldn't figure out why.  Well, a plate strut was cracked and it had been 
>gradually bowing out until it contacted the tail of a wippen.
>    Anyhow, I looked underneath, and it wasn't the fault of the pitch raise, 
>but rather the casting.  There was a small pile of sand directly under the 
>break.  Somebody must've kicked part of the mold in at the foundry and the 
>sand made a weak spot in the plate web.
>    Well, it was still just barely under warranty (9 1/2 years old), so 
>Baldwin agreed to replace the plate if the customer would pay shipping one 
>way.
>    Two other plates have cracked on me.  One had cracked before and someone 
>did a poor welding job -- it broke again in the same place.  Another 
>developed a hairline crack in a strut, but never fully broke.  It still 
>holds pitch at A440 and I tune it every year or so.  It's been 10 years or 
>more and the crack has never widened.
>    On old pianos, if they need more than about a quarter-step pitch raise, 
>I tighten plate screws first.
>    --David Nereson, RPT
>    --

> 


>_______________________________________________
>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives