plates, flying and otherwise

[John Ross]

I had one break on me in the 70's, when I was starting out.
There was a piano, that was away down in pitch, and when I tried to bring it 
up, the strings broke.
I decided to restring.
When I replaced the strings, and was bringing it up to pitch, it kept on 
dropping back, more than I thought it should.
Then there was a bang, and the top of the piano came forward 5-6". My heart 
almost jumped out my chest.
Now, when I find a piano away down in pitch, I pull the top board and check. 
You sometimes have to pry the top off.
Another indication of a separated pinblock, is when the dampers barely, or 
don't come off the strings.
One tuner told me a piece of the plate, went through his pant leg, when a 
plate broke on him. These by the way were uprights.
John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
jrpiano at win.eastlink.ca
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Annie Grieshop" <annie at allthingspiano.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2007 8:54 PM
Subject: plates, flying and otherwise


> Here's something that's been bothering me for a few days:  has anyone on
> this group actually been in the vicinity of a plate breaking?
>
> I've heard lots of dire warnings (and they all make a great deal of 
> sense!),
> but I'd like a first-hand report from someone who has witnessed 
> spontaneous
> self-destruction (or the immediate aftermath).
>
> Not fire, not sledge hammers, not gravity, not chainsaws, not 
> trebuchets --
> a piano that gave up the potential energy ghost on its own, of its own
> volition.
>
> It's been fun to consider what the sequence of events would be, but now 
> I'd
> appreciate hearing from someone who's been there, done that.  (Tell me
> horror stories!  Scare me even more about that dratted Brambach! <g>)
>
> Thanks, as always.
>
> Annie Grieshop
>
>