[CAUT] durability (was funding)

[Elwood Doss]

Gotcha!  I forgot...Convention planners do work ahead!  Maybe for '08.
Hopefully I can get out there.  Or the next time it's in the
midwest/south!

Joy!

Elwood

 

Elwood Doss, Jr., M.M.E., RPT

Piano Technician/Technical Director

Department of Music

145 Fine Arts Building

The University of Tennessee at Martin

Martin, TN  38238

731/881-1852

FAX: 731/881-7415

HOME: 731/587-5700

________________________________

From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Bdshull at aol.com
Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 5:14 PM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] durability (was funding)

 

Elwood,

 

Me too, but CAUT classes for KC are pretty much set, since we had to get
them lined up for the IC deadline which is....now.  But I'd sure like
see Ed do something on this in the future.  

 

Bill

 

    In a message dated 9/30/2006 7:46:06 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
edoss at utm.edu writes:

	Yes, yes, yes...how about Kansas City since I'm planning to
attend!

	Joy!

	Elwood

	 

	Elwood Doss, Jr., M.M.E., RPT

	Piano Technician/Technical Director

	Department of Music

	145 Fine Arts Building

	The University of Tennessee at Martin

	Martin, TN  38238

	731/881-1852

	FAX: 731/881-7415

	HOME: 731/587-5700

	
________________________________


	From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Bdshull at aol.com
	Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 1:00 AM
	To: caut at ptg.org
	Subject: Re: [CAUT] durability (was funding)

	 

	Ed,

	 

	Although your procedures took significant investment and time on
your part to learn, what you have shared here would be the basis of an
excellent CAUT class in the future, if you were willing.  I'd sure want
to attend it....

	 

	Bill Shull

	
	La Sierra University, Riverside, CA,  where we just doubled the
annual maintenance budget this year to .6% of inventory value

	 

	 In a message dated 9/29/2006 8:14:22 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
A440A at aol.com writes:

		Inre Vanderbilt, Joel writes:
		
		<< I read this to mean that you may be doing well.
		The Wall Street Journal article this week lead me
		to believe your Chancellor is filling the coffers
		quite well.>>
		
		    Yes, we are well financed.  Of late, Martha Ingram
donated $ 250,000,000 
		to Vanderbilt, so Blair School of Music got a new
concert hall, new D, new 
		building wing, etc.  
		     One thing that helps is that we are using a lot of
pianos that I began 
		restoring in the early 1980's.  The work was done in
accordance to the 
		procedures I learned from David Betts and Bill Garlick,
and time has proven the 
		durability of their techniques.  This makes it easier to
sell the value of 
		rebuilding vs. loaner or trading in old pianos for new.

		     One of our senior piano faculty is using an M that
was done in 1983 and 
		is still performing well, (albeit getting a little light
and brassy).  That 
		action job was billed at $ 1750 at the time, so the last
23 years of use seems 
		like a bargain.  The administration now accepts that
$9,500 for a complete new 
		action will also be seen as a bargain in 23 more years,
so they are happy to 
		fund that rather than spend $ 50,000 for a new piano!  
		     Refusing to cut corners, using the best materials
available, and putting 
		in the time to do the best work requires a little faith
on the front end, but 
		after standing the test of time, proves to be the best
support for funding 
		top-dollar work that I can find.  
		     There are a lot of things that go into it: ie,
damper wires that are not 
		only polished, but aligned so that they don't press into
the guide bushings, 
		insures that the damper felt is going to stay in the
same travel and the felt 
		lasts longer.   NEVER pushing a mute into a trichord
without lifting the 
		wedges helps longevity, too.  (how many techs always
lift the damper out of the way 
		before moving the mute through the wound trichords on a
D? This is 
		important!)   Proper alignment of the underlevers to
key-end felt is crucial to 
		durability.  
		     Stopping the damper pedal travel via felt blocks on
the trapwork levers 
		directly over the pedal rods prevents someone's foot
force from finding its 
		way to the upstop rail. Same goes for the sostenuto;
that intermediate lever can 
		be broken if the original felt block by the pitman is
made to take the full 
		force of the pedal, I like to stop it against the keybed
directly over the 
		pedal rod, too.  Una corda is often tricky, there are
often cut-out recesses under 
		there, but a leather or hard felt stop on the top of the
shift lever can 
		fashioned. This prevents the keyframe contact point from
gradually getting crushed 
		by the pedal jamming it against the stop screw.  
		    I think fastidious traveling of the shanks improves
the durability of the 
		pinning,( I pin a little firmer on school pianos).
Making sure there is no 
		lost motion between jack and knuckle allows the knuckle
to stay round for 
		longer periods of time.  Coordinating the blow,let-off,
and keydip to prevent the 
		jack from jamming allows the let-off punchings to live
longer.  Firm jack 
		pinning, (4-5 grams) doesn't slow repetition down at
all, but prevents jacks from 
		going off-center with all the attendant lopsided wear
and failure that ensues. 
		I use hide glue because I will need to replace parts in
the future and it 
		makes it soooo easy.  
		   Needling sufficient resilience into the hammers seems
to let them live 
		longer as opposed to leaving them so hard that all of
the impact force is 
		concentrated in the strike zone, causing a more rapid
erosion of the felt.  Hammer 
		tails don't need to be roughened if they are cut
squarely on a 3" radius and the 
		back-checks are properly angled. I have back-checks from
the 1930's in this 
		school that are just fine, while I have seen poorly
adjusted new ones wear out 
		in 10 years of heavy use.  It helps to taper tails as
little as possible,too. 
		   Polished and nick-free front pins greatly increase
key bushing life.  HOW 
		can the Steinway factory have let so many of these pins
be damaged in the 
		spacing process?  The bushings will last for about the
warranty period, then you 
		have a sloppy keyboard. I bush keys with as little caul
pressure as I can, 
		since the more pressure on the glue, the less glue is
pressed into the felt, which 
		effectively decreases the working dimension of the felt.
Bushings wear 
		longer .  
		ETC, ETC......... There is a way to build actions so
that they last.  It 
		takes longer and costs a little more, but I want every
action I rebuild to go out 
		there as advertising for my work.  I live with almost
all of my rebuilds for 
		decades, so I want them to be as maintenance-free as
possible. It frees up 
		budgets to cover more pianos.    
		Regards,   
		
		Ed Foote RPT 
		http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
		www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20060930/3d1d7f68/attachment-0001.html