[CAUT] verticals

[Chris Solliday]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Re: [CAUT] verticalsgood opinion. Chris Solliday
  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Ken Zahringer=20
  To: College and University Technicians=20
  Sent: Friday, July 15, 2005 12:00 PM
  Subject: Re: [CAUT] verticals


  Les,

  By the time you finish the cleaning, repinning, etc., your labor costs =
are likely to get close to the cost of new parts.  My question always =
is, for what I have to charge, what is the customer getting?  How much =
longer are those 100-year-old hammershanks, flanges, bushings, springs, =
etc., going to last?  I did an action some years back where I just =
replaced hammers, shanks, butts, and all the felt/cloth.  Now it seems =
that every time I go back to tune it there are one or two wood pieces to =
repair/replace/reglue, and that note hasn't played in a month or two.  =
It may cost a little more to replace everything, but when you consider =
what the customer is getting for their money, it's a pretty easy sell.  =
BTW, I have never found the damping to be acceptable on one of these old =
guys, even with new damper felt, unless I also replaced the damper =
flanges & springs.

  Just one guy's opinion,
  Ken Z.


  On 7/14/05 10:08 PM, "Leslie Bartlett" <l-bartlett@sbcglobal.net> =
wrote:


    How marvelous to replace all action parts, but what on earth must =
one charge for such a thing???????????   This Story and Clark is 100 =
years old, and most of the action parts are still quite tight, though I =
will have to do some repinning.  I'm replacing hammers, damper felts, =
damper lever felts, back rail cloth, rest rail cloth, let off button =
felts, cleaning out all the spring grooves, springs, and lubricating the =
grooves. The keyboard is being redone by Merle Sanford, and is ivory, =
and David Geiger is restringing the piano, plugging all the tuning pin =
holes and redrilling.  This is costing a bunch of bucks, and I can't =
imagine what one would charge for a complete restoration. I'd sure be =
interested in comments from those who have vastly more experience than =
I.   I tried to get out of this job, but the owner wanted me to do it, =
and Wim Blees finally cajoled me enough to risk it- so I am no expert at =
this stuff, and normally seem to underprice my work.    What would a =
"complete restoration" less case work, cost in this world????????

    les bartlett=20




  --=20
  Ken Zahringer, RPT
  Piano Technician
  MU School of Music
  297 Fine Arts
  882-1202
  cell 489-7529

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/b4/8d/0f/96/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--