I had just got out of Western Iowa Tech and eventually ended up in San Francisco. The Journal had an ad for a fellow Hawaii selling his business or looking for someone to take over. I called him and we talked and he decided to bring over someone with more experience...probably that was Leonard Hanacheck...that was back around 1977 or so...not sure of the time...but it was someone from the Bay Area that got the gig... David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, CA 94044 Original message From: "Willem Blees" To: pianotech at ptg.org Received: 12/20/2007 10:59:03 PM Subject: Re: Key Lead Replacement Fenton No, I've not met Leonard yet. The Hawaii Chapter hasn't met for about 20 years. So when I got here, we got the meetings started again. The first one was in October, and the next one will be in January. Maybe he'll come for that. But if he doesn't, it is certainly understandable. A round trip air ticket is $100, and the new ferry is also about that much. Add to that a night in a hotel, with the cheapest being around $150, and you can see that going to a meeting takes on a whole different priority. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician Honolulu, HI Author of The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: Fenton Murray <fmurray at cruzio.com> To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 8:07 pm Subject: Re: Key Lead Replacement Wim, Sorry for the delay, I don't get on the list very often. I haven't been to Hawaii for 7 or 8 years or so. When I was there all I did was surf and hang out, so I can understand where you're coming from. Ever run into Leonard Hanacheck, he's a tech from around San Jose that moved to Maui maybe 20 years ago. Say hi from me. Fenton ----- Original Message ----- From: Willem Blees To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 9:16 AM Subject: Re: Key Lead Replacement Fenton. When I moved to Hawaii, I got rid of all my big tools. All I have is a 6' table that I set up in my garage, which I use as my bench. My only other expense is a the chisel and the shellac. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician Honolulu, HI Author of The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: Fenton Murray <fmurray at cruzio.com> To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 7:30 pm Subject: Re: Key Lead Replacement Well, I get your point, Wim. It would certainly take me no more than 2 hrs, probably less. It is much more enjoyable and satisfying to me to press out the old and install the new. Problem solved, no more splitting keys, looks great, less filling. I'm sure I could replace the leads in the same amount of time it would take me to shave and seal them. See attached photo of modified arbor press from Dana M., it's a joy to use tools like this. And no lead dust. Well, maybe a little. Fenton ----- Original Message ----- From: Willem Blees To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 7:07 PM Subject: Re: Key Lead Replacement -----Original Message----- From: Fenton Murray <fmurray at cruzio.com> To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 4:01 pm Subject: Re: Key Lead Replacement Why not just replace the leads. It takes me about 1 hour to shave off leads and shellac them. Can you replace an entire set of leads in that amount of time? Wim ----- Original Message ----- From: Willem Blees To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 3:26 PM Subject: Re: Key Lead Replacement Terry This question was asked several months ago. Here on Hawaii, we have a lot of growing key lead problems. Around here we shave them off with a chisel flush with the side of the key, and then give each lead a shot of Shellac to seal them in. That seems to do the trick. But so far, I've not encountered any Yamaha's with this problem. So this might be something new. Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT Piano Tuner/Technician Honolulu, HI Author of The Business of Piano Tuning available from Potter Press www.pianotuning.com -----Original Message----- From: Farrell <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 1:08 pm Subject: Key Lead Replacement Looked at a 30 yo (guess) Yamaha G2 grand today with keys sticking. It has growing key leads. Never seen that on a Yamaha before. Grinding marks on many of the keys indicate that the leads were ground down previously. I'm recommending that they replace all key leads. I've leaded keys as part of setting up an action. But I've never just blindly replaced the leads, trying to duplicate the original setup. I know that the owners definitely want to go minimal cost with this one (Elk's Lodge). Seems to me leads are often of slightly different sizes, lengths, etc. If you are not carefully measuring Front Weights, etc., what the heck do you do? Seems to me the fastest way would be to pop the old lead out, weigh it, grab a lead of the same diameter, trim it to the original weight and install. Or is that just too trashy an approach? Do I tell them that we need to do a traditional weigh-off (but we can't because action center friction hasn't been addressed, etc.)? Evaluate the original FW curve and duplicate it (but that will mean some plugging, etc., i.e. more cost)? What is an acceptable, minimal approach? Thanks. Terry Farrell Farrell Piano www.farrellpiano.com terry at farrellpiano.com More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail! [Image Removed] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20071221/06a24367/attachment.html
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC