[pianotech] What will I find

Israel Stein custos3 at comcast.net
Sun Mar 8 13:38:35 PDT 2009


 >Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:07:13 -0600 Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net> wrote;

>
> Any predictions as to what I will find on Friday? I will keep you 
> apprised!
>  
> Best,
>  
> David.
 >Be willing to be pleasantly surprised, but don't remotely expect it. 
Take along a can of something flammable, and matches, >or be prepared to 
call in an air strike.
 >Ron N

Ron and all,

There is a third possibility - prepare to be thoroughly puzzled.

Years ago in Boston I got a call to appraise for sale a Steinway "baby 
grand" that was "refurbished" by a professor of some sort who "loved to 
tinker with pianos". I found an "M" with a fairly decent-looking finish 
on it, a passable stringing job and a not totally incompetent action 
rebuild - with some voicing, alignment and regulation issues. Nothing  
tragic that couldn't be corrected.  But the puzzler was - the guy got 
rid of the entire Una Corda mechanism. The shift lever and return spring 
were gone, the action was screwed down to the keybed and mortises in the 
key blocks were very nicely inlaid and veneered over - excellent 
woodwork! (In my puzzlement and confusion I never did check to see 
whether the sostenuto was still there...)  I'm still scratching my head 
over that one...

Israel Stein






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