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<DIV>In a message dated 5/15/2007 8:22:11 AM Central Daylight Time, jwpiano@earthlink.net writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT face=Arial>Hello list,<BR>This is my first posting to the CAUT list. I have two questions<BR>1: How do you keep dampers free from damage when modern music requires <BR>playing the strings with fingers and the performers paste the damper <BR>heads with colored stickers, then remove them and tearing felt, etc. <BR>This is at NYU, but my own experience in music school tells me it must <BR>be all over.</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>Alan McCoy, Eastern Washington State, has a very comprehensive do's and don't for prepared piano. However, when I showed it to one of the piano professors at UA who does this kind of thing, she said it wasn't very good, that there are a lot of things that are not dealt with beyond what was allowed. So you might want to talk to a professor who knows about prepared pianos. Once you've got a policy in place, the next step is to inform the other faculty and the students of the policy. You might need to post it in every practice room. That doesn't guarantee the students will abide by the policy, but you'll at least covered your rear in case anything is damaged beyond repair, or if you have to spend too much time and money fixing the problems. </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT face=Arial><BR><BR>2: A Petrof P131 upright with agraffes to the top has broken every <BR>string from E6-E7. The break is at the edge of the bearing before <BR>entering the agraffe on the speaking side. Any ideas?</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>It sounds like someone is banging the hell out of this piano. Is this a practice room piano, or in a studio or classroom? If it's a practice room, try to find out if there is one student who likes to use this piano on a consistent basis. I bet you'll find he'sshe's a banger. Other than reducing hammer blow, increasing let off, or even reducing key dip, the only thing you can do is keep a big supply of 14 to 15 gauge wire around. </DIV>
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<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT face=Arial><BR>Thanks,<BR><BR>Joe Wiencek<BR>jwpiano@earthlink.net</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Willem Blees, RPT<BR>Piano Tuner/Technician<BR>Tuscaloosa, AL</FONT></DIV><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">See what's free at <A title="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" href="http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000503" target="_blank">AOL.com</A>. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>