D

[David M. Porritt]

Kent:

Have you done anything, or made any recommendations for this "D" yet?
 

dave

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 9/5/2003 at 8:00 PM Kent Swafford wrote:

>The local junior college has the finest concert hall in the area.
Their 
>house piano has been an SD-10 that they picked up cheap when the
hall 
>was opened. They have known that they needed a D, and last year they

>finally got one, a 30 year old rebuilt one. It was rebuilt by a
known 
>company in NY. It has been in place perhaps 9 months, and played in 
>public 4 times. That sounds like they might be aware that there is a

>problem with the instrument, but to hear them tell it, it is simply 
>that the final prep wasn't done after delivery as promised because
the 
>tech who would have done that wasn't traveling in the wake of 9-11.
>
>Anyway, I was called out to see the piano.
>
>Downweight measured 75 grams, + or -.
>
>I found jiffy leads, attached to the underside of many of the keys, 
>_behind_ the balance rail. I removed them, thinking that I was about
to 
>find the reason that they were added in the first place. I still 
>haven't a clue. Maybe the rebuilder didn't either...  (Anybody care
to 
>speculate on why they were put there?)
>
>Downweight now measures 65 grams, + or -.
>
>The action parts appeared to be Renner, with real Steinway hammers,
but 
>the wips do not have screw-adjustable rep springs, so the parts 
>couldn't be very new(?) Maybe the rebuild wasn't all that recent and

>the piano hadn't sold(?)
>
>The back action had been replaced with a Renner kit, but with
dampers 
>only going up to E6, not up to G6 that is normal in Ds.
>
>Most of the capstans were off the edge of the capstan felt, some 
>grossly so, so the action is not aligned properly.
>
>I have improved the spacing of the wips in relation to the capstans,

>and re-timed the dampers to lift properly (they were lifting too
early, 
>contributing to the heavy action), and have done normal friction 
>reduction.
>
>Now the piano is at least playable. Before, the piano wouldn't
really 
>play above mezzo-piano. Now there is at least a forte.
>
>The question, of course, is, "What do I tell the customer?"
>
>The action really needs to start over, with proper geometry, and the

>proper number of dampers, but...
>
>the piano could probably get by with just some weight reduction in
the 
>action/hammers.
>
>The stringing and refinish appear to be pretty darn good. The
action, 
>however, is a mess.
>3 less dampers than other Ds?
>
>Any ideas?
>
>Thanks for letting me think "out loud".
>
>Kent Swafford
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives

**************** END MESSAGE FROM  Kent Swafford *********************
_____________________________
David M. Porritt
dporritt@mail.smu.edu
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275
_____________________________