---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment On 3-okt-04, at 14:50, Mark Davidson wrote: > After searching for a baby grand on which to learn some more skills, I=20= > had the good fortune to obtain a 1925 Henry F. Miller for small $$. =20= > (Ad said "needs tuning"). > > Not in good condition, obviously, but all the notes play and all the=20= > pieces are there, and it is clear after looking it over a bit that=20 > this was a high quality piano when new. Gorgeous mahogany underneath a=20= > mediocre refinishing job. If you want to do a very good 'learning' job, I would try to make it a=20= very beautiful repair. As nice as is possible. > > So now I have to make decisions about what to repair/replace. Some=20 > things are obvious: needs a pinblock, and much of the felt is moth=20 > eaten. Hammers have about 1cm long strike "points". Tuning pins=20 > rusty. Squeaky, flattened knuckles. OK, so you put in a new pin block, replace all the felts, put in new=20 strings, hammer change including new shanks, key bushings, cleaning the=20= keyboard, dampers, etc > > Less obvious (to me) are > > bridges - hairline cracks near pins, worse on bass bridge. Easiest=20 > would be to fill with epoxy, as has been discussed. But I might learn=20= > more by recapping?? I'll get some photos. Bass bridge has 9=20 > monochords, 11 bichords, 8 trichords (all wound). All the rest is=20 > plain wire. Recapping is a much more valuable learning job and not the easy way out. > > soundboard - haven't done any measuring yet. No cracks visible, but=20= > it's covered with dirt and still the humid season here. Crazed=20 > finish. I suppose if it has no crown / downbearing and lots of=20 > cracks, the answer is obvious, but what if that's not the case? That seems obvious : if the board is not cracked, you could renew the=20 lacquer so that it looks very good again. If it is cracked, you go all=20= the way. > There is a lot written on how to measure crown and downbearing, a lot=20= > less written on what to do with that information. Oh but I think we have such sound board giants here that they will sure=20= help you out. That's what this list is for, am I right? > > center pin bushings - seem to be in surprisingly good condition, not=20= > loose nor overly tight. Give'm a CLP treatment anyway. > > whippens - It's very complicated compared with modern ones I've seen. =20= > These have some felts that need replacing, but also have silk cords=20 > that look OK. Photo attached. So replace the worn felts/cloth and clean it up. Especially the saddle=20= cloth is important. > > One interesting design problem. There are agraffes all the way to the=20= > top, and treble hammers are rubbing and hanging up on the plate in the=20= > high treble. This limits how close you can get the strike point to=20 > the end of the string. That means you need a Bechstein-like hammer with a very thin treble=20 hammer. An undrilled Bechstein hammer would probably your best=20 solution > > > > I don't really need to make a big profit on this piano, but would like=20= > to be able to recover my out of pocket costs when done. It's=20 > primarily an educational exercise. > > Thoughts? > > These were my thoughts (; > friendly greetings from Andr=E9 Oorebeek "where Music is, no harm can be" ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3326 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20/93/0b/99/attachment.bin ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC