Hi Paul;
Thanks for the reply to: What lubricants to use for Conway Boston & Co. 1909/10, full size, upright. The piano is an heirloom and specified in their will as a keeper being the first piano the family owned when immigranting from Scandinavian.
Strings are rusty only where the liquids where spilled on them (C5 and above) have removed with 'string eraser' for removing rust from strings, have cleaned all the bridges & pins. Piano is actually in fairly good tune considering little to no play/use: A4 @ 440, C5 and above a little out from rust, dirty bridges, piano has poor string scaling anyway.
I have told them it will never sound all that great, is not worth putting much money into it but 'family will' specify's to preserve. I am at least glad that the tuning pins are still tight and the piano does hold tune as well as a piano of that grade can, at least it makes it somewhat worth my time. Average annual humidity in this area is 17-21%.
Your question on RPT, I follow family tradition being a piano tech becuase this is my family's occupation for three generations; I am not RPT'd with Piano Tech Guild, yes, prices are going way up next year, appreciate you thoughtfulness there.
Kindly
Annalee Smith
________________________________
From: "pianotech-request at ptg.org" <pianotech-request at ptg.org>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2008 3:35:30 PM
Subject: pianotech Digest, Vol 1, Issue 33
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Today's Topics:
1. Weight of Kawaii (KeyKat88 at aol.com)
2. Re: Weight of Kawaii (Allan Gilreath)
3. Re: Weight of Kawaii (William Monroe)
4. Re: lubricants (Paul T Williams)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:03:13 EST
From: KeyKat88 at aol.com
Subject: [pianotech] Weight of Kawaii
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Message-ID: <bf3.45733ba6.364df011 at aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Greetings,
About how much does a Kawaii 6'-7" grand piano weigh? I don't
believe it has an oak case, but it is a light to medium wood, such as cherry.
Also thanks for suggestions on reading about getting started in
scaling. Websites was informative.
Thanks
Julia Gottshall
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:09:39 -0500
From: "Allan Gilreath" <allan at allangilreath.com>
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Weight of Kawaii
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Message-ID: <1BB2E37F65704C10AF2C7FD3A2C1EA24 at ALLANOFFICE>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Julia,
According to the Kawai website, a Kawai RX-5 6'6" weighs 739 lbs.
Allan
Allan L. Gilreath, RPT
Registered Piano Technician
Allan Gilreath & Associates, Inc.
The Piano Experts
PO Box 1133 - Calhoun, GA 30703
405 Belwood Rd., Suite 5 - Calhoun, GA 30701
allan at allangilreath.com - www.allangilreath.com
phone 706 602-7667 - fax 706 602-0979
_____
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of KeyKat88 at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2008 4:03 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] Weight of Kawaii
Greetings,
About how much does a Kawaii 6'-7" grand piano weigh? I don't
believe it has an oak case, but it is a light to medium wood, such as
cherry.
Also thanks for suggestions on reading about getting started in
scaling. Websites was informative.
Thanks
Julia Gottshall
_____
Get
<http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212774565x1200812037/aol?redir=htt
p://toolbar.aol.com/moviefone/download.html?ncid=emlcntusdown00000001> the
Moviefone Toolbar. Showtimes, theaters, movie news & more!
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:31:30 -0600
From: "William Monroe" <pianotech at a440piano.net>
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Weight of Kawaii
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Message-ID: <8DE297E50C3A48C7ADB6431F8C5F5252 at A440>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
And, I'm sure it is not an oak case, either, though the inner rim is probably laminated hardwood of some description. The Cherry or Oak you see is just the surface veneer.
William R. Monroe
Julia,
According to the Kawai website, a Kawai RX-5 6'6" weighs 739 lbs.
Allan
Allan L. Gilreath, RPT
Greetings,
About how much does a Kawaii 6'-7" grand piano weigh? I don't believe it has an oak case, but it is a light to medium wood, such as cherry.
SNIP
Thanks
Julia Gottshall
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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:35:32 -0600
From: Paul T Williams <pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu>
Subject: Re: [pianotech] lubricants
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Message-ID:
<OF2C2373C3.AA6B8560-ON86257500.0079AAC1-86257500.007C166F at unl.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Hi Catriona!
Sounds like they've already spent more that its' worth, I fear! 1/8"
grooves tells me the hammers are spent. replacing center pins alone might
or might not help with the vertigris, it's the bushings also causing the
problems....graphite is a magnet for more gunk to build up... I hope they
understand that this piano may be at the end of its' useful life and your
work is only going to last for a short time. Is it a "family heirloom"
kind of situation? Those are hard to deal with..(ask me how I know
this!). How does it tune, or have you tried that yet? You better make
sure it's tunable before going any further!! Even at a lower than standard
pitch. Where was the pitch when you started on this project? 30 years is
a really long time, almost too long on an old piano....But I could be
wrong.
For lubricants, I would use some protek on the contact points at the
V-bar, bridge pins and bass string termination points, but just a
micro-dot of it. How much rust exists on the strings/coils, etc?
I advise this with much conservative opinion, being very shy of taking on
big projects with an old worn out piano!!
Also, what does pt stand for? An acronym (spelling anyone?) can only be
put at the end of your name if your an RPT! If you're not an RPT, go get
your upgrade to RPT. There's plenty of ways to go get tested!! Do it
this year. The costs are going way up next year! :>)
I hope this helps!
Best of luck!
Paul T. Williams RPT
Piano Technician
School of Music
5 Westbrook Bldg.
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68588-0100
pwilliams4 at unl.edu
Caitriona Ireland <catrionna2001 at yahoo.com>
Sent by: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org
11/13/2008 01:32 PM
Please respond to
pianotech at ptg.org
To
pianotech at ptg.org
cc
Subject
Re: [pianotech] lubricants
What lubricants to use where in reconditioning an upright action in
1909/10
production run Conway Boston & Company full size upright, serial number
16691.
The action was extremely dusty almost unplayed for 30 years, before that
never much played at all. Hammers have 1/8 grooves have retained most of
factory shape, flanges are all not loose, no screws loose, dampers all
functional after cleaning thoroughly, damper rod not bent, pedals
regulated,
spoons and most of action needs regulation. Graphite has been used on much
of the action friction points,piano located in a semi-arid area of Western
Montana, USA, with mild winters some rain and a little snow sometimes,
summers moderate to hot.
Piano has remained in same building for most of its life and has been
indoors all of its life except for moved from original owners house in
current area to present location in same local area.
I am cleaning the action thoroughly. The action has had liquids pop, etc.,
spilled on it in the upper soprano and upper tenor areas, have removed
corrosion/verdigris and dust from most of the action now.
I have replaced all springs (jack, damper and hammer butt springs,
replaced
all bridle straps, replaced corroded center pens and felts, renewed felts
as
much as possible, replaced where absolutely necessary, leathers are only
slightly worn.
I am currently regulating action, will then lube; also I have repaired and
reconditioned keys and key bed with new felt and paper punchings, set
height, key dip,leveled keys and regulated lost motion, have yet but will
regulate rest of action.
The clients don't what to spend a lot reconditioning their piano a wise
choice for a Conway Boston & Company upright piano.
Sincerely
Annalee Smith, PT
Katrina
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