Yesterday I tuned a piano rescued from a local church which closed when the congregation amalgamated with another. I last tuned it about 20 years ago in the church hall and was a little intrigued by it then. It's a Rachals from about 1899 (number 9522 I think), 'ruggedised' for India. It's 56" high with a big powerful sound. It's really a candidate for a full restoration, but the owners have been spending a lot of money restoring their old brownstone type apartment. The pics show some of the extra features, like the pinned key bushings, and the double hammer staples. The plate is angled back at the top. One pin was very loose and would not hammer further into the block. I removed it to fit a shim, and on peering into the hole with a flashlight, it seems to be lined with a copper or bronze (or other metal) tube, with a closed or almost-closed end, like a miniature cigar tube. I only removed this one tuning pin and it had evidently had work before, as the string had only one coil. So I don't know whether the metal tube was a previous shim or if they all have them. Has anyone heard of pnblocks being fitted with metal 'sleeves' as part of ruggedising the construction for extreme climates? The construction throughout is prettty massive. The capstan wires are 4.02mm diameter, for example. But curiously, there is evidence of a flaw at manufacture. The top of the capstans bear on the very edge of the wippen felt and in fact with the note depressed, the capstans are partly off the felt. I'm sory the pics aren't great, as I only had my cellphone camera. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Rachals double hammer staples.jpg Type: image/pjpeg Size: 67726 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090506/564229f3/attachment-0006.bin> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Rachals capstan & wippen with note depressed.jpg Type: image/pjpeg Size: 65662 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090506/564229f3/attachment-0007.bin> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Rachals capstan & wippen at rest.jpg Type: image/pjpeg Size: 83610 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090506/564229f3/attachment-0008.bin> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Rachals front.jpg Type: image/pjpeg Size: 74326 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090506/564229f3/attachment-0009.bin> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Rachals key bushing pins.jpg Type: image/pjpeg Size: 39402 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090506/564229f3/attachment-0010.bin> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Rachals plate.jpg Type: image/pjpeg Size: 81714 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090506/564229f3/attachment-0011.bin>
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