[CAUT] what do they look like?

[A440A at aol.com]

Wim asks: 
<<  So perhaps a picture, or better yet, an actual hammer that was 

replaced because it was beyond use on a concert or studio piano >>

    

Oh, it is so simple.     They are smaller, lighter.  They will have some 
string cuts that you just don't dare file away,anymore. 
         They will be glued to shanks with worn out knuckles and more than 
likely pinning irregularities that will never go completely away. There may be 
all manner of worn parts between the ends of the action,  (I have a teflon set 
of whippens in for 25 years and they are perfoming just fine) but whatever, I 
bet the key bushing is shot,too.  
     These school pianos seem to need no less than 1.5% of their replacement 
cost per year.  It might seem like a lot, at first, but it is just barely able 
to cover ongoing maintenance.  Ultimate restoration costs cannot be covered 
in a budget of this size, nor replacements. It is a figure that budget 
departments might consider.   
      Say for example, a $ 100,000 piano goes on stage and you begin amassing 
that $1,500 per year.  First year, maybe $800 for an initial re-regulation, 
leaving $700, next year, same thing, (oh, take off another $150 to reglue the 
entire lyre assembly that got broken off in a bit of careless rolling), and 
don't forget the extra 200-$300 per year in voicing, retrieving paperclips out of 
the soundboard, taking pens out of the action,  oops!  little coffee on "just 
the last two or three strings, $200 for a new set of singles.  Hmm.  leaves 
about $750 piled up after the first two years, another $800 to put aside the 
third year, oops,  who would have thought that a music rack would break those 
little slides off if you pulled it all the way out and continued to pile on 
books of sonatae (sonati? them thar sonatas....)? well, we will just have to put 
in $600 for that year. 
    So now, after three years, you have  $1,350 in the account.  For the next 
two years, lets make this an ideal situation, nothing happens, and you only 
spend say, $600 per year keeping it voiced and regulated, maybe the occasional 
broken string. 
you then have a five year old concert piano that needs new shanks and hammers 
and $3,150 to bring it back to full concert level.  This is not ultra high 
paying work at this budget level.  Salaries vs. contract work brings in many 
other variables, but non-the less,  this 1.5% figure just barely maintains a 
piano.  More would be better, of course, but telling most bean-counters that the 
piano on the stage will eat a grand and half worth of oats every year brings 
that brief reaction of wonderment as they, just for a moment, think you are 
trying to pull a joke on them.  Enjoy that flash,  it is downhill from that point 
on. 
     From an even broader view, the need for restringing in 10-15 years isn't 
accounted for in the percentage.  The finish will continue to deteriorate in 
most school settings.  Back actions and dampers weren't thrown in there 
either, since they often last longer than most administrations.  
     The $5,800 Yamaha P-22 will not need much, soon,  but still, setting 
aside $87 per year beyond tuning costs will allow regulation and hammer shaping 
in 5 years, (guessing at inflation, absence of nuclear war, etc.)
If somebody has a secret to selling the 10% figure as a budget, please let me 
know!  
Regards,   
         
Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html