<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3132" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 bgColor=#ffffff leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Hi Tom,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>I know of a bridge notcher which came from from the defunct Sherlock Manning factory. It's in a huge warehouse room about fifty miles from me along with an enormous amount of other stuff; backs in various stages of constuction, cabinet parts, but no actions or keys , so most of it is useless, but the warehouse people will not sell anything seperately. The notcher was specially made, and the work on the backs' bridges there looked very good. It works like a radial arm saw, the cutter drawn along an arm by the operator, and I think it could be adapted for a high production rebuilding shop. The niftiest notcher I have seen was in the Schimmel factory. It is robotic and fully automatic. The bridge pin hole drilling and bridge pin insertion are also automatic. Naturally, the whole process has to be programmed for specific models. I imagine other modern piano companies use similar technologies.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Ted Sambell</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=McNeilTom@aol.com href="mailto:McNeilTom@aol.com">McNeilTom@aol.com</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=caut@ptg.org href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">caut@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, June 14, 2007 10:58 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [CAUT] Power notcher</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV> <DIV>Hi, Del -</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have seen power notchers at work in a factory or two (Baldwin, some years back?).  Are these machines available for sale somewhere, or are they custom adaptations of something else?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In a message dated 6/13/2007 9:43:48 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, <A href="mailto:fandrich@pianobuilders.com">fandrich@pianobuilders.com</A> writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>I have used it. I like the acoustical results but I don't like working with the<BR>stuff. As Ron points out it's brutal to notch by hand (no matter how sharp the<BR>chisel is). I wouldn't use it at all if I didn't have a power notcher. <BR><BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10" FAMILY="SANSSERIF">~ Tom McNeil ~<BR>Vermont Piano Restorations<BR>VermontPiano.com<BR><BR>346 Camp Street<BR>Barre, VT 05641<BR>(802) 476-7072</FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR> <DIV><FONT style="FONT: 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF; COLOR: black"> <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></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>