Hi Jim, Mark, I'm flattered, glad to be of some help. I'm no big expert at any of this, just someone with a fairly open and skeptical mind, and not particularly worried about making a fool of myself. I find that if you express a reasoned opinion, you often get a reasoned response and learn something. And in the process of expressing a reasoned opinion, you often examine what you think you knew a little more closely as well. $1000 checks are most welcome, and if there are enough of them, I'd be happy to retire from tuning and take up writing as a pastime <G>. But I'd rather play the piano instead. Regards, Fred On 12/28/06 11:56 AM, "Jim Busby" <jim_busby at byu.edu> wrote: > Hi Mark, > > I second that nomination. I took a stack that was traveled the "old" way > and saw so much more was needed when I turned it over. Great tip! > > Hey Fred, I'd pay big bucks for the first copy of your book! > > Four books I'd like to see; (I'd gladly pay, say, $1,000.00 for a copy.) > 1. Fred Sturm's Complete Manual of Piano Servicing and Repair > 2. Ron Nossaman's Technical Guide to Functional Piano "Re-design" > 3. Del Fandrich; Piano Designers Secrets of the Craft, Revealed... > (Oooo) > 4. Alan McCoy; Encyclopedia of Influential technicians of the 20th > Century. Including Notes, Tips, and Memoirs from; Fred Drasche, Del > Fandrich, Ron Nossaman, Fred Sturm, Ted Sambell, Ben McLeveen, Jim > Colman Sr., George Defebaugh, etc. etc. etc. (Kind of a "The Piano Book" > for tech junkies) > > Yes. I AM serious!... :-) > > Jim Busby > > -----Original Message----- > From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of > Mark Cramer > Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 3:38 PM > To: CAUT > Cc: Trevor Nelson; Robert Haist; Ted Sambell; Albert Picknell; Mark > Cramer > Subject: [CAUT] TIP OF THE YEAR! > > I would like to nominate and thank Fred Sturm, for what I humbly > consider > the BEST TIP shared this year; > > "Upside-down flange-travelling" (lay the stack hammers face down, then > rock > it between hammer-rest and let-off contact to observe hammer travel) > > With Fred's method, it was easy to get accurate results the very first > time, > and I soon noticed a relationship between the lateral movement of the > hammers, and thickness of my favourite travel tape (3M #651 Post-it: > Correction & Cover-up tape); > > i.e.: 1mm travel = 1 full strip of travel tape... 1/2mm travel = 1/2 > strip, > etc. > > My assistants love it! Anything that makes a routine task fun without > sacrificing precision is win-win. Nonetheless we still do a final > paranoia > visual-check with the stack right-side up. > > A further bonus is that Fred's method seems to work equally well > pre-travelling new shanks: > > New shanks often have a vertical line through the end of the shank. By > transfering these lines to the bench, then tilting/propping the action > at > let-off contact, it's possible to "one-time" all your flange travelling, > just by measuring/observing the deflection from the original lines. > (I'll > attach a photo) > > And I guess the final benchmark with any new tip is longevity. Suffice > it to > say, after how many months using Fred's method, no-one here has any > interest > in going back to "old school." > > So "thanks Fred" for sharing this valuable tip, and to everyone who > participated in our CAUT discussions all year. I've learned much, saved > myself some potentially frustating mistakes and been kindly provoked to > re-think more than one of my tired old opinions. ;>) > > Best wishes to all, > Mark Cramer, > Brandon University > > > > > > >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC