[CAUT] Steinway rail re-doweling

[Horace Greeley]

Hi, Tim,


At 06:16 PM 7/11/2006, you wrote:
>When I had John re-dowel a rail it was about $600 when the shipping 
>was figured in.

Was this for a single rail?

>  Later I was informed that a new complete action frame with holes 
> drilled and let off buttons installed was about $260.  The person 
> who informed me of this doesn't bother re-doweling because it is 
> not cost effective.   The numbers may have changed as far as SS 
> cost, but I think the math may still speak for itself.

Yes...and...fwiw, having done this both ways a number of times, I 
think that using a new stack from S&S may not always be the right 
choice.  There have been many changes in the scales over time, and 
the factory is not interested in doing anything that does not comport 
with whatever the current specifications are.  I've been burned on 
this with both Bs and Ds, and wound up redoweling or drilling new 
blank rails for myself so as to get an accurate scale.

Dave P. mentioned a write-up on redoweling by Mark Cramer.  I cannot 
find it at the moment, but seem to remember seeing (online?) fairly 
recently.  Anyway, I thought that his procedure was very good, well 
thought-out and easily replicated (with care/etc).  Also, while I do 
not know how much of it ever got published in the journal, Chris 
Robinson used to teach classes on action rail replacement that were 
really first-rate.

Best.

Horace



>Tim Coates
>
>
>On Jul 11, 2006, at 11:37 AM, Alan McCoy wrote:
>
>>I'll echo what others have said about John Dewey. He replaced several rails
>>for me that had cracked out. Very nice work. He had a good display in
>>Rochester.
>>
>>Alan
>>
>>
>>-- Alan McCoy, RPT
>>Eastern Washington University
>>amccoy at mail.ewu.edu
>>509-359-4627
>>
>>
>>>From: Rob & Helen Goodale <rrg at unlv.nevada.edu>
>>>Reply-To: "College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>" <caut at ptg.org>
>>>Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 08:39:13 -0700
>>>To: <caut at ptg.org>
>>>Subject: [CAUT] Steinway rail re-doweling
>>>
>>>Hello,
>>>
>>>Can someone tell me who does Steinway rail re-doweling?  I 
>>>attended a class at
>>>a convention a few years back with someone who does it but I can't remember
>>>the name.  I know there are a few others out there who do it as 
>>>well.  I have
>>>a customer with a 1908 model "A" she is interested in rebuilding.
>>>There
>>>doesn't appear to be any stripped screw holes as of yet but with 
>>>it's age I'm
>>>sure it's ready to be re-done anyway as long is I'm doing everything else.
>>>
>>>Anyone have an estimate of how much this costs?
>>>
>>>Rob Goodale, RPT
>>>Las Vegas, NV
>>