Tools: Who Needs 'Em

[Alan Barnard]

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Has this ever happened to you?

Scheduled work: 

    Piano #1: Old Wilson upright.. Tune.
    Piano #2: Old Marshall & Wendell upright. Re-glue jack flange, Repair lower birds eye on sticker and replace sticker arm & flange. Pitch raise 120 cents. Waterfall badly chipped ivory keys (only one had an
        unbroken front). Other minor repairs and adjustments.

Location of pianos: St. Robert and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Location of primary tool case: At home. On the coffee table.

Driving time between home and job: A little over an hour.

Tools on hand: Screwdriver from truck emergency tool kit. Brand new, unopened felt temperament strip in with my stringing tools ( couldn't tell you why ...) and—miracle—had good old Randy Potter course "student" tuning lever in truck. Also, did have my re-pinning kit in the truck—except for the flush cutting nippers.

Items I had to go buy (Wal-mart Communist Chinese Slave Labor Outlet Store, 15 minutes each way): Small file. Also, I needed exactly one drop of Titebond. Smallest wood glue bottle they sold was twelve ounces. 

Tool I  most wished I'd had: Long forceps to hold the jack flange, retrieve the dropped action screw, etc.

And the uncut center pin? Well, I put it on note A0 so it doesn't interfere with any neighbors.

I'll nip it next time.

Alan Barnard
Salem, Missouri

BTW A tool tip: I'll never give up my good old Randy Potter course "student" tuning lever. Not only did it come in handy in this emergency, but unlike hammers with separate heads and tips, this one can be used to back out really tight tuning pins without the tip coming loose.
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