Hi Tom, I've got three pianos from the late 50's to early 60's--low priced console models--that are in my queue to be reconditioned for rental. All of them have less-than-state-of-the-art laminated soundboards, and are typical of some of the less-than-inspiring pianos I meet in the field. The first one landed on my doorstep as a freebie from a moving company whose services I use. I decided to see if I could make a musical instrument out of it. Here is a list of what I did to it (modified in a few steps to reflect what I should have done): - cleaned everything - keys - rebushed mortises, installed wurtzen punchings on front rail, lubed keypins with McLube and mortise cloth with powdered teflon, installed weights in back of keys to give 15g upweight with the hammer held out of the way and the damper pedal down. - action - disassembled, normalized hammer flange friction to 7 swings, wippen flange friction to move under the weight of a screw when tapped, jack to move freely under its own weight. polished damper lift rod with Flitz, rebushed the lift rod pivots, steamed/ironed wippen heel cloth, "dressed" hammer butt buckskin with sanding drum on a rotary tool, polished damper spoons with Flitz. Lubed damper lift rod and spoons with McLube, lubed hammer butt buckskin and wippen heel cloths with powdered teflon, gave jack tops a shot of aresol teflon dry lube, weakened hammer return springs, to sit at 45 degree angle when unengaged, deep-needled the shoulders of the hammers, filed the hammers, full action regulation. - strings - gave an extra twist to thuddy bass strings, stablized upper bridge pins of all strings with thin CA glue, respaced and leveled the strings. I still need to recap the bass bridge and do some touch-ups on the cabinet, but had to move the piano out (some friends are babysitting it/using it) before I got these things done. I don't think this had ever been an enjoyable instrument to play, as evidenced by very light wear, despite being 35 years old. This piano, modest though it is, was transformed from a hulk that was utterly uninspiring to play to an instrument that permitted expressive performance. It doesn't compare with the Yamaha console in my living room, but it is a viable instrument, better than many beginning students start out on, and in time should be bringing in some rental income, perhaps even allowing me to be paid in full for my investment of time. What is even more important is that doing this kind of work gives me confidence when recommending reconditioning work to customers with pianos of higher value than my own. But I certainly could not sell my piano for a price that would reimburse me for my time. I strongly recommend this kind of learning project. It has been very encouraging and helpful for me as I am developing as a technician. Floyd Gadd Original message From: "Tom Rhea, Jr." To: fg at floydgadd.com; pianotech at ptg.org Received: 11/20/2010 9:15:39 PM Subject: RE: [pianotech] Steinway Upright Thanks, Floyd. Unfortunately, most of what I get – as a ‘newbie” technician – are cheaper and/or older pianos that don’t seem to be worth the time of some older, more established technicians. My apologies and admiration, though, to those techs who DO spend quality time on these oft-neglected instruments. Tom From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Floyd Gadd Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2010 9:36 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Steinway Upright Hi Tom, My experience is limited--I picked up a 1965 Steinway Sheraton 45" upright this summer. The treble had a lot of false beats until I put a tiny drop of thin CA glue at each of the bridge pins. The 8 or so wound strings above the tenor break will need to be replaced, as at least a couple of them are exhibiting enough false beats to render the unisons untunable. A couple of unisons in the upper mid-range went out badly after the first time I tuned it (this doesn't happen to me much these days), but the second tuning proved to be stable. Like you, I was intimidated going in, due to what I had heard. I expect most of the problems you run into will be ones you've seen before on cheaper pianos. Floyd Gadd Manitoba Chapter. Quote: List: I was approached by a potential client who wanted me to tune her late grandmother's Steinway upright. It was recently moved from her grandmother's home to its present location and, regretfully, hasn't been tuned in many (read: more than ten) years. Of course I agreed, since I'm working hard to get my fledgling business off the ground, but then I remembered that a number of technicians in my limited experience had been less than complimentary of the Steinway upright due to its quirky nature during tuning. My inclination is to approach this tuning with no preconceptions but alarm bells are still insistently ringing in my head. Are there any pitfalls or booby traps that I should be aware of before attempting this daunting task? Your collective wisdom will be most appreciated. Tom Rhea Piano Service Tom Rhea, Jr., Technician -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20101120/5d7c558a/attachment.htm>
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