I agree with David. Twenty five years ago I rebuilt a 6' 4" Vose grand for a church. It had some positive downbearing before I tore it down. After the plate was out, the crown had headed south for a permanent vacation, and obviously so. I had heard from others that sometimes the strings are literally holding the crown and it lets go when they are removed. That was my first and only. I approached the church about replacing the board after having contacted my bellyman at the time and costing everything out. I had prepared a detailed explanation why it needed to be done, and why it would be spending bad money to not do it, and be spending good money to do it - even though it was a considerable cost increase to them. I explained it matter of factly and without apology (why would I apologize for a condition that I did not cause and could not have foreseen?) They went for the new board, and were happy with the rebuild when done. It is simply too heavy a load to bear for you to assume the cost of replacing the soundboard. You are not that far into the job yet, and I would simply walk away from the job if they are not inclined to proceed. I don't think it is that common for us to have this kind of surprise, but it does happen. As others have said already, taking a number of careful down bearing readings and crown readings when doing the estimate make such an ugly surprise a less likely occurrence. It is also important to have a written disclaimer in your estimate about unforeseen conditions before teardown. Resist the impulse to split the difference with them, they will believe it is your fault if you do. It is also possible that the reason why the board has oilcanned is related to bad work done originally at the factory lo those many years ago. They weren't always perfect in the factory in 1929 either, although we all want to believe those were the Golden Years. But sometimes they drank their lunch on Friday back then too. Will Truitt From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of David Love Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 11:41 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Reversing Crown Renegotiate. Explain that the condition could not have been foreseen before teardown and that the board needs to be replaced. Tell them that you can do the work as per the original agreement but you wouldn't recommend it as the outcome may not be that good. I assume the price and work did not include soundboard replacement. If a mechanic agrees to replace the headgasket at a certain price, he doesn't eat the additional cost if it turns out that the piston rings are also shot. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Noah Frere Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 8:32 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Reversing Crown i wish i had known about this possibility BEFORE the price and work to be performed was agreed upon...grumble... On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 10:02 PM, Delwin D Fandrich <del at fandrichpiano.com> wrote: Yes. It had negative string bearing and the strings were actually holding the "crown" in the board. It (the board) was, needless to say, toast. ddf Delwin D Fandrich Piano Design & Fabrication 620 South Tower Avenue Centralia, Washington 98531 USA fandrich at pianobuilders.com Phone 360.736.7563 From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Noah Frere Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 6:34 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: [pianotech] Reversing Crown Has anyone found a positive crown on a grand soundboard, then removed the strings and the crown reversed? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091224/b76850a9/attachment.htm>
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