> > Jer writes: > > Looks are as important as anything else. > > Otherwise, why line up hammers to look right when replacing them? Or back > > checks? > > I don't think looks are all that important,(or they would have locked > my up years ago), but they do indicate the care taken in a job. A > rebuilder that leaves sloppy, uneven, coils will rarely do a more > consistant job drilling the block, at least in my experience. I like > beckets to line up because it leaves the tuning hammer in the same > position from pin to pin, facilitating tuning. It also indicates a > stringers ability to be consistant, which can show up in how the wire > curvature is placed from string to string. There is a lot of > aesthetic effort put in restoration, and an even pin field is one way > pride is shown. A worker that has no pride rarely does the best work. I don't believe that Ron Nossaman - who was the first to express the opinion here that lined up beckets don't matter - can hardly be accused of "rarely doing the best work". And when rebuilding pianos in an institutional setting on salary one must always engage in triage, due to constraints on time and resources, pay attention to things that affect function and sometimes forget about one's "pride". And besides, "screw polisher" has always been a derisive term in this trade - one who bases one's pride on things that look good but matter little, instead of obsessing over things that do matter. In his original message Ron pointed out flaws in the job that do matter - for example, tuning pin drilling angle - which the person who posted the original criticism totally overlooked. Obsessing over insignificant details may sometimes prevent one from paying attention to significant ones, especially in time-sensitive situations. Two-edged sword, Ed. > As far as hammers and backchecks lining up, those are elements in > function, and I do think they are important, even if I allow a mm or > so alteration in blow distances between hammers to even out action > geometry. Precisely. Things that matter an awful lot... If lining up beckets is considered on the same level of importance as hammer and backcheck alignment - than someone has a rather screwed up value system... Israel Stein -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091002/749b7361/attachment-0001.htm>
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