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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Mike-</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Remember, in your dealings with the school, that
someone there made the decision to have this guy rebuild the piano.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>When you criticize the piano, you are also
questioning the judgement of the person who made the decision.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Too heavy an attack on the rebuilder will be felt
as an attack on the faculty who advocated for him.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ed Sutton</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=IFixPianos@yahoo.com href="mailto:IFixPianos@yahoo.com">Michael
Magness</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> ; <A title=caut@ptg.org
href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">caut@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, September 26, 2008 9:26
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [CAUT] Bass end "rattle" on
S&S "D" Being prepped for BrickmanConcert SOLVED! Question about Steinway
Rebuilder</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV>Many thanks to all for your excellent and timely advice.</DIV>
<DIV> It turned out to be the very first suggestion from Ed Foote
amplified by suggestions from Fred Sturm. </DIV>
<DIV>I was still convinced it was a rib/soundboard problem so I used the
palette knife test from underneath as Ed Sutton had described but could find
no loose areas anywhere. That test will remain in my arsenal for the future
however.</DIV>
<DIV>I climbed out from underneath and probed with the long palatte knife
under the bridge and there was that opening, I placed a wedge, played the
notes and voila, no more rattle. I removed the wedge added a drop of
Franklin's hide glue and replaced it and was done for the morning.</DIV>
<DIV>I was scheduled to return at 3:30 to "touchup" the tuning after sound
check. I arrived on time and sat for almost 3 hours waiting, Brickman didn't
arrive until after 5 and then was unhappy with the tone of the piano through
the tenor section.</DIV>
<DIV>I had pre-tuned the piano Wed. afternoon using a concert tuning giving it
plenty of stretch in the upper end which gave it a brighter sound in
the treble and with the strong bass of the D made the tenor sound muffled
by comparison. He was complaining about that throughout the sound check. His
tech guy came over and told me he prefers Yamaha's and that was the real
problem. There was some mention that it was a Hamburg D by the theatre
manager, my Steinway knowledge isn't that strong, I wouldn't know how to
tell.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I didn't tell him that I had told the people at the school that the piano
was in very poor regulation, aftertouch of .060"+, hammers checking very low,
repitition springs tight, 25+ swings on the few random hammerflanges I checked
and more.</DIV>
<DIV>While I was prepping the piano, prep being rough tuning, hunting for the
rattle and fine tuning it on Wed., that was all they wanted/allowed me to
do, there was a meeting at which it was decided I should only tune,
not do any "tech" work. It was explained to me that the pianos had been
rebuilt by their "Steinway rebuilder" who had given them a warranty and he
would be called for the tech work. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The link below is an article about him and his rebuilding work for the
school. If you google his name, some other articles and his website come up.
He is not a PTG member, I don't believe he ever has been, note the
self-taught quote. To my knowledge he has no contact with any techs, at least
in this area, none in our chapter. With the exception of John Sheldach, who
left his employ to work as a piano tech in the LaCrosse, WI area and was
my predecessor at the school in question, before following his fiance to her
new job in Madison, WI about 150 miles away</DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3652/is_200009/ai_n8910061">http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3652/is_200009/ai_n8910061</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I would be very interested to know if anyone knows this Steinway
rebuilder or of him outside our little area.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Mike</DIV>
<DIV>- <BR>I feel sorry for the person who can't get genuinely excited about
his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve
anything worthwhile. <BR>Walter Chrysler <BR><BR><BR><BR>Michael
Magness<BR>Magness Piano Service<BR>608-786-4404<BR><A
href="http://www.ifixpianos.com/"
target=_blank>www.IFixPianos.com</A><BR>email <A
href="mailto:mike@ifixpianos.com"
target=_blank>mike@ifixpianos.com</A><BR></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>