plates, flying and otherwise

[Annie Grieshop]

I had to ask, didn't I.  Maybe I should go back to being an historian -- all
that stuff's already dead....... <g>

Thanks, John!  But let me get this straight:  are you saying that the
pinblock separated and took the plate with it?  Or were those two separate
events?  That's a possibility I hadn't considered previously.  Gosh, how
many ways can a piano come apart?

Piano schrapnel -- aargh!

Annie

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Ross [mailto:jrpiano at win.eastlink.ca]
> Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2007 7:27 PM
> To: annie at allthingspiano.com; Pianotech List
> Subject: Re: plates, flying and otherwise
>
>
> 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
> >
> >
>
>