Gentlemen: With due respect to all parties engaged in this beastly becket brouhaha, the phrase “flogging a dead horse” seems to come to mind with each new post. AHEM. Will Truitt From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of William R. Monroe Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 2:22 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] pianotech Digest, Vol 12, Issue 54 Israel, would you respond directly to the idea that since it takes no more time, why not align beckets? I do see a pretty even parallel to beckets lined up and notches in keys being square and even. Both aesthetic. Would you not be disappointed in a keytop job that wasn't filed square? Couldn't the argument be made that I just don't care to fuss over that detail, so don't be condescending to me. In fact, that even adds time to the job, and Mary has a mortgage to pay.. ;-) William R. Monroe On Oct 5, 2009, at 12:39 PM, Israel Stein <custos3 at comcast.net> wrote: ---- Sent: Monday, October 5, 2009 6:36:13 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Gerald Groot wrote: >On the PTG exam's, looks counts too. Too much glue, to little. Hammers lined up? >Hammers the right height in relation to the others around it? Proper size key bushings >used? Proper height and depth of felt? To much or to little glue used? To many coils >around the tuning pins? Not enough? Splicing done correctly? Extra wire not touching >nearby strings? Etc…. Sorry, Ger. These are all aspects of functionality. Not one item mentioned above is strictly cosmetic. They have to do with evenness of touch, tone (due to strike point placement), strength of joint, stability of tuning, action noise and true sloppy workmanship - like dripping glue all over the place, which truly indicates lack of care/skill. Please tell us, Ger, does the PTG exam require that beckets be lined up? I know the answer (having administered over 100 of them) - but do you? Actually, the workmanship that I've seen where the beckets are not lined up, coils not tight, tuning pins not level etc., also become a sign that hammers are not properly lined up, spaced, mated or voiced and neither is regulation always done as it should be. Like I said before, it's a cop out in my opinion. Here we go again. Coils not tight may cause tuning instability. Tuning pins unlevel may cause great variations in torque - and difficulties in tuning. Personally I never notice any difference in tuning difficulty between beckets that are lined up and aren't - not a significant detail. It may just be one of those self-fulfilling profecies for those who do pay attention. Or not - who knows, people are different from each other... Where I come from (and where I live now) I have seen every possible variation, Ger. Meticulously rebuilt instruments where the beckets aren't lined up (but nice coils and tuning pins level). Instruments that are as beautiful to behold as they are to play with every little detail perfectly in place. And beautifully lined up beckets on real dogs - and I am talking Steinways, not Esteys... So let's cut the generalizations. This is one of those little details that Shakespeare's words apply to in spades - lots of sound and fury signifying nothing. Well, maybe signifying very little. I refer you to recent posts from Ron Nossaman and David Love - who don't make your leap of "logic" to "anything with unlined up beckets is crap" while not discounting the value of lined up beckets either. Israel Stein -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091005/4559af30/attachment.htm>
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