[pianotech] The poignancy of travel paper - pulley key shredder thing

[Ron Nossaman]

On 9/9/2011 10:28 AM, David Skolnik wrote:
> First, I'm itching to get my hands on one of them pulley key shredders.
> Next, I'd love one of Alex's or Joe's or Ron's toys too. One each,
> perhaps. The irony however is that, as elegant and efficient as they
> are, the entire tech community needs only a couple, total. The
> brotherhood of the traveling pasta-maker, shredder.

Yup, exactly right. But then I figured I'd spent more in time hand 
cutting strips through the years than the noodle maker cost, so why not? 
Making a stacked razor blade jig would require that I go buy razor 
blades, which I don't use either in the shop or on my chin, and spend 
the time to make the jig, at at least equal cost in time to just buying 
the noodle cutter and getting on with it. If I never use the noodle 
cutter again for traveling strips, it's still an excellent size for 
making noodles, which we do on occasion. So it's not necessarily a 
dedicated one time use tool, and even if it were, a profession full of 
people who own $800 and more in assorted high priced tuning hammers and 
$4000 in multiple ETDs doesn't have much nose to look down at the 
purchase of an $11.49 travel paper strip cutter.


> And yet, the heart wants what it wants.

Life without the occasional toy needs another close look, because 
something very important is missing. I am what I consider the advantage 
of being a cheap date, and the joy for me is finding or making something 
that actually works like I think it ought to. This has proven through 
the years to be a considerably more difficult criteria to meet than any 
other - by far. My toys don't have to cost thousands to be therapeutic, 
so I'll never be tempted by the Web surfing ITune playing big screen 
noodle cutter with the touch screen remote no matter how big and shiny 
they get. While I was paying my PTG dues with those first couple of 
tunings of the year, that capstan adjustment pass took care of the 
noodle cutter. I do hope, however, that my $11.49 linguini buddy is 
actually real, in stock, and is shipping. That's another thing altogether.

Ron N