[pianotech] Collard & Collard revisited

[Farrell]

No plate at all? I seriously doubt that. It likely has a 3/4 plate. I can see something that at least looks like a hitch pin plate in the bottom of the piano.

Wowa, I can't look at the picture very long - looking at the tuning pin array I'm getting sea-sick!  Wow, how cool is that? Does the piano have tricords up in the high treble only - or are those bicords also?

Interesting.

Terry Farrell
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Duaine & Laura Hechler 
  To: pianotech at ptg.org 
  Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 9:52 AM
  Subject: Re: [pianotech] Collard & Collard revisited


  It does not have a plate (this is before - any - adjustments, let off, etc.)



  The eye screw adjusts the let off.





  Farrell wrote: 
    Bob brings up a good question - "why this piano is so low in pitch".  I've only run across one piano five half-steps flat - and that was an 1870s American upright that was known to not have been tuned for a good 100 years. Makes sense to me that it would take about that long for a structurally sound piano to go that flat.

    If you look at this piano from the side, any chance the plate looks like a sideways "U"?

    Terry Farrell
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: bobdavis88 at aol.com 
      To: pianotech at ptg.org 
      Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 6:52 PM
      Subject: Re: [pianotech] Collard & Collard revisited


      Duaine,

      Any piano service requires a partnership between the technician and the owner, but that is especially true on a piano which is in any way risky. That includes especially older instruments which haven't been serviced in a long time, or which have a unique design, or which have a weaker structure or frame. This piano qualifies in spades. I would not work on this piano at all unless I had had an extensive (paid) conversation with the client about the many (annoying/expensive/catastrophic) risks, and unless I had a good feeling the client understood and accepted those risks (usually IN WRITING). 

      I would worry specifically about why this piano is so low in pitch. Is it already buckling? If you don't have a lot of experience with this type of piano, I can tell you it's a good place to get yourself into a position where you'll look back wistfully to the time before you ever saw it.

      There's nothing wrong with working on pre-modern pianos, but they take a different skill set, and a different mind set.

      Good luck,
      Bob Davis




      -----Original Message-----
      From: Duaine & Laura Hechler <dahechler at charter.net>
      To: pianotech at ptg.org
      Sent: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 3:38 pm
      Subject: [pianotech] Collard & Collard revisited


Today, I just finished the repair and alignment of the overdampers.



The hard part - the tuning.



First, I'm having trouble getting the right tip for the pins.

- Standard #2 tip is too big

- Standard #1 tip is a little too small

- Standard square tip is a little too small

- Schaff's oblong tip is a little too big

- That leaves a rectangular tip with square corners about the size of a

"1-1/2" tip.

Where to find such a tip ?



Second, after a long while, I figured that the piano was - extremely -

flat - about 5-6 notes flat.

In trying to bring it up to pitch, two bass string sent snap.

So I'm assuming, to allow for string stretchage, I need at least two passes.

Seeking advice on this kind of pitch raise.



Thanks, Duaine



-- 

Duaine Hechler

Piano, Player Piano, Pump Organ

Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding

Reed Organ Society Member

Florissant, MO 63034

(314) 838-5587

dahechler at charter.net

www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com

--

Home & Business user of Linux - 10 years







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-- 
Duaine Hechler
Piano, Player Piano, Pump Organ
Tuning, Servicing & Rebuilding
Reed Organ Society Member
Florissant, MO 63034
(314) 838-5587
dahechler at charter.net
www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com
--
Home & Business user of Linux - 10 years
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