<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1170" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <DIV>Hammers are different, players are different, acoustics are different (this affects how hard people will play it), people's opinion of what's worn out are different, sound boards efficiency are different, hammer bushings are different,......</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>A piano is either suitable for a purpose or it's not.  The artists know, the technicians know and that's the criteria for doing maintenance.  What we seem to be trying to do is to objectify the criteria enough to explain it to the non-artist who controls the money.  I frankly don't think that can be done.  Either the artist has credibility with the non-artist or he doesn't.  I don't think this can be reduced to an auditable data stream.  Further, our failure in this attempt will weaken our credibility.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>dave *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 6/13/2003 at 3:53 PM Richard Brekne wrote:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid">I aggree with this Wim. These questions should have reasonable answers, and they would be valuable to be able to put on the table when dealing with admin folks. I just put a brand new set of hammers on a Hamburg C in October. The instrument has been used on average 5 hours a week since then. Just two weeks ago I had no choice but to file down a bit as the grooves were 2 mm deep already. These were 1/2 high Strike Weights. We all throw in data like this to a central data base.. and those answers will reveal themselves. All we need is way of archiving the information so it is easy to arrange in meaninful ways. RicB Wimblees@aol.com wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE="CITE">IBean counters not withstanding, this is still a question I would like to have answered. Airplanes fly a certain number of hours before they are reconditioned and eventually put in the graveyard out in Arizona. We get a maintenance schedule for our cars. But what are some guidelines for pianos? How many "hours" of playing do a set of hammers get before needing to be replaced? How many times can we restring a piano in the original pin block. When does a soundboard need replacing? How many times can a piano be rebuilt, with a new soundboard and pin block and strings? Last year this subject was talked about briefly, but I don't think we ever got a definitive answer. I realize these are all questions with lots of answers, based on usage, climate control, budgets, etc. But this is the kind of information that would be useful, even to techs out in the field. Any one want to give some answers? Wim    </BLOCKQUOTE> -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. UiB, Bergen, Norway <A href="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no</A> <A href="http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html">http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html</A> <A href="http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html">http://www.hf.uib.no/grieg/personer/cv_RB.html</A>  </BLOCKQUOTE>**************** END MESSAGE FROM Richard Brekne ********************* </BODY></HTML> <PRE> _____________________________ David M. Porritt dporritt@mail.smu.edu Meadows School of the Arts Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX 75275 _____________________________</PRE>