From: pianotech-request at ptg.org Subject: pianotech Digest, Vol 8, Issue 162 To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:46:39 -0600 Send pianotech mailing list submissions to pianotech at ptg.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://ptg.org/mailman/listinfo/pianotech or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to pianotech-request at ptg.org You can reach the person managing the list at pianotech-owner at ptg.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of pianotech digest..." --Forwarded Message Attachment-- From: formsma at gmail.com To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:08:35 -0500 Subject: Re: [pianotech] Download PTBiz as freeware > Download at http://www.formsmapiano.com/PTBiz/ptbiz.zip > > > It says it's a 15 day trial. > Ron N That's what mine said too. Default message that wasn't changed, I suppose. -- JF --Forwarded Message Attachment-- From: pianoguru at cox.net To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:58:27 -0400 Subject: Re: [pianotech] Chinese tuners (was The World's Greatest Musical Prodigies) Hi Kerry, et al, Hailun Piano in Ningbo, China sponsors a cooperative training program, jointly with the local Polytechnic College for training piano technicians. I forget the size of the class or the duration of the course of study, but a certain number of the top ranking graduates of this program are guaranteed jobs at the Hailun factory, which pays significantly higher wages than other piano factories in the region. Those who do not make the cut for the factory jobs have learned a skill that is increasingly in demand, as more and more of the Chinese population can afford and desire to own pianos. I had the unexpected pleasure of going to a ceremony at a music conservatory. The students seemed to range in age from elementary through high school ages. They had a new building to be dedicated solely for piano pedagogy, and Hailun had donated some pianos to get them started. The architecture was designed to accommodate a style of teaching quite different than you might expect in the US. The building was many-sided, almost round. There was a large central room with a grand piano and two vertical pianos. Surrounding this were many small practice rooms, all opening into the large central room. There was also a second floor, doubling the number of practice rooms direct above those on the first floor, with the central area being open to the floor below, and a narrow railed walkway connecting the practice rooms of the second floor. The second level formed a sort of balcony above the first. The total number of practice rooms was probably about 40. At the change of classes, a new group of uniformed students, in single-file, would parade around the room, one at a time dropping off into his/her practice room. With all the doors standing open, each student would begin immediately practicing his lessons, even as the others were still making their way to their respective rooms. Once everyone was in his room and working away, the teacher would call them out, one at a time, to receive his daily brief individual instruction, while the others continued to work away in the own rooms. In the course of an hour, each student would have his individual instruction, and the balance of an hour for practice time. As an observer, in the large central room, it was quite a surreal menagerie of sound! I have also had the pleasure of attending several piano performance competitions in Ningbo and Shanghai. All that I have attended were sponsored by Hailun, and they saw to it that the pianos were well prepared. I can well imagine that there might be other performances where the piano prep left something to be desired, but for the biased sampling which I attended, I was quite satisfied with the prep work. In fact, the young man, who most often did the concert prep is their head voicer. He is a fine technician, and I go out of my way to complement his work. I know how rare is it that a technician is recognized for his contribution to the success of a musical performance! What struck me most about these musical performances, as others have stated, is that the skill level and musicianship of such incredibly young artists is astonishing, and even embarrassing in comparison to the general lack of commitment and dedication from their counterparts in our own culture. The second thing that stood out in my observation of these performances was the general lack of social etiquette in the audience. It is apparently a relatively new thing, attending concerts of this sort, in their culture, and they just don’t know proper conduct, among the adults or children. In our culture, these audiences would be considered extraordinarily disrespectful of the performer. Most Western artists would storm of the stage in a rage if confronted by these audiences, and I wouldn’t blame them. As a musician, it was hard for me to remain calm just observing this conduct. Frank Emerson --Forwarded Message Attachment-- From: mike.spalding1 at verizon.net To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:27:39 -0500 Subject: [pianotech] Kawai electric piano breaking bass strings. Client just bought a used Kawai EP308. 88-note "grand", conventional action and dampers, no soundboard, piezo-electric pickup under the bridge. Got a good price because there were some broken bass strings. Prior owner's tech tried replacing them with universals, and they broke again. Then the prior owner bought scale data over the internet, had strings custom wound, and they broke. The foregoing history is all hearsay: no written documentation, first-hand accounts, nor physical evidence available. All 3 sets of broken strings (originals, universals, and custom scale) have been lost/discarded. Do these electric pianos have a history of breaking bass strings? Is it safe to specify new strings with characteristics similar to their neighbors, or should I be designing to a lower percent of break strength? The missing strings are E2, F2, A2, C3, and D3. Neighboring notes are at about 60% of breaking strength. thanks Mike --Forwarded Message Attachment-- From: jrpiano at win.eastlink.ca To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:22:42 -0300 Subject: Re: [pianotech] Kawai electric piano breaking bass strings. I would say contact Kawai. See if there was a problem, and what their fix was. They might have designed a new scale for the piano. I can't see a reputable company like that, not following through on an apparent problem. John Ross, Windsor, Nova Scotia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Spalding" <mike.spalding1 at verizon.net> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 5:27 PM Subject: [pianotech] Kawai electric piano breaking bass strings. Client just bought a used Kawai EP308. 88-note "grand", conventional action and dampers, no soundboard, piezo-electric pickup under the bridge. Got a good price because there were some broken bass strings. Prior owner's tech tried replacing them with universals, and they broke again. Then the prior owner bought scale data over the internet, had strings custom wound, and they broke. The foregoing history is all hearsay: no written documentation, first-hand accounts, nor physical evidence available. All 3 sets of broken strings (originals, universals, and custom scale) have been lost/discarded. Do these electric pianos have a history of breaking bass strings? Is it safe to specify new strings with characteristics similar to their neighbors, or should I be designing to a lower percent of break strength? The missing strings are E2, F2, A2, C3, and D3. Neighboring notes are at about 60% of breaking strength. thanks Mike --Forwarded Message Attachment-- From: joegarrett at earthlink.net To: nelsong at intune88.com; pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:27:08 -0700 Subject: [pianotech] Grand Damper Lever Spoon Addition I've installed damper spoons on a few sets of grand damper levers. It's accomplished mostly with a jig/cross vise on a drill press. Levers need to be removed from the back action and cut shorter to accomodate the spoons. There are a few different lengths of spoons available. BTW, the spoons are PRESSED in not Screwed in, as someone suggested to remedy the Sojin problem. Regards, Joe Joe Garrett, R.P.T. (Oregon) Captain, Tool Police Squares R I --Forwarded Message Attachment-- From: kenneth.gerler at prodigy.net To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:59:43 -0500 Subject: Re: [pianotech] Kawai electric piano breaking bass strings. Mike, As John said, Mark Wisner, Kent Smith, and Juan Escobar at Kawai should be able to get you the proper/current information and strings for the piano. They are all good people! I personally have never had an "opportunity" to work on one of these models. Ken Gerler ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Spalding" <mike.spalding1 at verizon.net> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 3:27 PM Subject: [pianotech] Kawai electric piano breaking bass strings. > Client just bought a used Kawai EP308. 88-note "grand", conventional > action and dampers, no soundboard, piezo-electric pickup under the bridge. > Got a good price because there were some broken bass strings. Prior > owner's tech tried replacing them with universals, and they broke again. > Then the prior owner bought scale data over the internet, had strings > custom wound, and they broke. The foregoing history is all hearsay: no > written documentation, first-hand accounts, nor physical evidence > available. All 3 sets of broken strings (originals, universals, and > custom scale) have been lost/discarded. > Do these electric pianos have a history of breaking bass strings? Is it > safe to specify new strings with characteristics similar to their > neighbors, or should I be designing to a lower percent of break strength? > The missing strings are E2, F2, A2, C3, and D3. Neighboring notes are at > about 60% of breaking strength. > > thanks > > Mike > > --Forwarded Message Attachment-- From: kerrykean at att.net To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:54:51 -0400 Subject: Re: [pianotech] Chinese tuners (was The World's Greatest MusicalProdigies) I never got to see how they worked, although I tried to set up a meeting with a couple. No one seemed surprised that I used a tuning fork though...;-) -----Original Message----- From: Duaine & Laura Hechler [mailto:dahechler at att.net] Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 1:03 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Chinese tuners (was The World's Greatest MusicalProdigies) Kerry wrote: > I was in China a couple of years ago to brush up on my once-fluent Mandarin. > A friend at Xiamen University arranged for me to tune a number of pianos > while I was there (what a great opportunity for language study!) and from > what I saw and heard the skill level is pretty low. Everybody seemed to have > at least one horror story about service. Most if not all of the techs are > connected with a store or piano company, not many independents, and the > concept of customer service is apparently not well developed yet. That's > just what I saw in one area, maybe not representative of the country as a > whole. > > > Kerry Kean > www.ohiopianotuner.com You MUST be talking about AURAL tuners --Forwarded Message Attachment-- From: allan at sutton.net To: pianotech at ptg.org Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:09:42 -0400 Subject: Re: [pianotech] Download PTBiz as freeware Out of curisoity, I googled this and found a Microsoft web page with some info that may help. Here is the url: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/118609 Take care, David Cuffel David's Piano Service Anchorage, Ak Unfortunately, it does not install on my system (Windows xp) I got a message that it could not find a .mdb file. Can someone provide a .mdb file ? Thank you for your interest. Allan Sutton www.pianotechniquemontreal.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of John Formsma Sent: 16 juin 2009 09:09 To: Pianotech List Subject: [pianotech] Download PTBiz as freeware The version of PTBiz I'm using is now freeware. (Although I paid $150.00 for it -- go figure. Thanks, Ed Winslow. <sarcasm>) This version doesn't use any install codes or a HASP. It will work on Windows XP or earlier Windows operating systems. Download at http://www.formsmapiano.com/PTBiz/ptbiz.zip If you are a current user of PTBiz, there were some specific instructions on how to install the new version so you don't delete your data. If I recall correctly, what you do is basically this: Save your current piano.mdb file. (Save in a different location, like a thumb drive or CD. Don't save in the PTBiz folder, as it will be deleted in the next step.) Uninstall the current PTBiz program Reinstall the new PTBiz program, and start the program at least once (not sure if starting the program is required -- it may be that you were not supposed to start it.) Exit the PTBiz program. Copy your old piano.mdb file into the new PTBIz folder, overwriting the one created in the new install. Next time you open PTBiz, the program now uses your existing data Proceed at your own risk. It's been 2-3 years since I've done the new install procedure, and I've lost the instructions that came with it. If you want a basic database program that also does accounting and scheduling, PTBiz is good for that. I've used it for 8-10 years, and it has served my needs well. -- JF No virus found in this incoming message. 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