Its true Susan.
Calif/west coast pianos survive beyond the wild imagination of most. That's another reason that people all over the world want vintage Calif. Porsche,Mustangs etc. Cause they survive well in the climate. Pianos anyone? West coast piano finders? ...right here. Call me or Susan
Dale S. Erwin
www.Erwinspiano.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Susan Kline <skline at peak.org>
On 10/29/2010 9:56 PM, Wim Blees wrote:
While old Vose pianos were pretty good instruments, and they did have some interesting design features,
from a technician's point of view, in the Midwest, for the most part, they're nothing more than an old upright, worth little or nothing to the average consumer.
I see them with different eyes. No doubt average customers here don't realize what they've got, either. It's still worth holding onto these pianos in the places where they aren't turned to matchwood by humidity and temperature swings. If they are in reasonable shape (like here on the west coast, or in the constant dryness of the high desert) it's worth trying to keep them around till the day people understand that they are something special.
I'm sure the Vose uprights in the Midwest have suffered terrible damage from the climate, and also from the abundance of old uprights in the region, which leads people to assume that they are a dime a dozen. When so many people moved west, they left the old uprights behind, assuming they'd be easy to acquire in California. Some found that this wasn't the case, because so many other people had done the same thing.
Interesting about the tapered tuning pins, Ron. I've never needed to tap any.
John, it's been my experience that really loose pins (which pianos usually acquired some other place before they were brought to Oregon) can be made quite usable by carefully putting a few drops of CA glue on the top of the pin where it enters the pinblock or plate. It wicks in. I keep a towel under it to catch the drips. Sometimes a second dose does better than the first one. I theorize that this is because CA follows cracks so readily that the first application wicks away from the oversized hole. The second dose relines the hole better, because the first dose has sealed the cracks.
Water thin, of course, and not used to excess. I use it only on the pins which won't hold. Ventilation, of course. It does have "cyano" in the name.
Susan Kline
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