<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; =
charset=Windows-1252">
<TITLE>Message</TITLE>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><SPAN class=030171414-30032004><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff =
size=2>David
and All,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=030171414-30032004> <FONT =
face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Thank you all for your replies. I have =
come to the
conclusion that, although I could jump into the restringing and make it =
work, I
would have to do it for less money than it's worth (including full =
regulation
and voicing - in two days+??). I would also, given the amount of =
money
left in my budget for the year, have to eat a lot of the =
tunings/touch-ups over
the next week or two. </FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=030171414-30032004> <FONT =
face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>David, you ask some good questions. I =
would like to
think that doing the work, assuming it is successful, would help me make =
the
point that the pianos are generating complaints, and we have the =
technology to
solve the problems - we just lack the budget. Richard Davenport =
was here
some 10 years ago to work on the then-new Yamaha CFIII (which no =
one likes
to play - they prefer a worn out Steinway - aaargh) and at that time =
suggested
that new bass strings were needed on the Steinway. It would be the right =
thing
to restring the whole piano (and replace action parts) - but I saw =
an
opportunity to put my finger in the hole and solve the worse problems =
I'm
experiencing in the treble. I've come to the conclusion that the =
timing
and the money aren't right to do even that right now. I will do =
the
regulation and voicing and whatever else I can think of to reduce =
unwanted
noise, but that's about it. I put CPL on the felt and bearing =
points
before my last tuning, and hopefully that might help with
rendering/stability.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=030171414-30032004> <FONT =
face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>But today, I have a full day of tuning outside =
of the U -
real money. Thanks again - I'll be interested to hear others =
replies to
your questions, David.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=030171414-30032004><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff =
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=030171414-30032004>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jeff Stickney, RPT</FONT> <BR><FONT =
face=Arial
size=2>University of Montana</FONT> <BR><FONT face=Arial
size=2>jpstickney@montanadsl.net</FONT> </P></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=030171414-30032004> </SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px =
solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr =
align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> =
David Skolnik
[mailto:davidskolnik@optonline.net] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, March 29, =
2004
10:52 PM<BR><B>To:</B> jpstickney@montanadsl.net; College and =
University
Technicians<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: Tuning =
stability<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>So,
Jeff...<BR><BR>I guess the answer is "NO". <BR><BR>At 09:46 AM =
3/25/2004
-0700, <FONT size=2>Jeff Stickney</FONT> wrote:<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite"><FONT =
size=2> </FONT><FONT
size=4><B>Short of restringing, is there anything I can do to help =
this
situation? </B></FONT><FONT size=2></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>The =
various
responses were exhaustively illuminating, and worthy of implementing,
BUT...<BR><BR>As you pointed out, you are in a contract situation, =
with little
money provided for anything other than tuning. So here are some
questions, for you and the other contributors:<BR><BR>How many hours =
would it
take to do most of what has been suggested, including all the =
follow-up
stabilizing? Otto alluded to this.<BR><BR>How would you propose =
to bill
for the work? I know Marc Cramer suggested one approach to =
appealing for
the authorization, but this would seem to preclude doing the more =
extensive
job, on a close to thirty year old piano. This doesn't seem a =
wise move
to me.<BR><BR>How does your success or failure in this effort affect =
your
longer range goals? In other words, does success do anything to =
convince
them of the need for increased resources? Does your super-human effort =
make
you a hero, or simply set an unreasonable baseline for future =
expectations?
The discussion reminded me of the thread a few years ago regarding =
tuning
speed. Just because some of us appeared to be able to perform =
seemingly
remarkable feats of speed and stamina, didn't, IMO, justify =
establishing such
as benchmarks. <BR><BR>Some technical questions:<BR><BR>Jeff, =
you never
replied regarding the downbearing measurements. While I expect =
that the
range of suggested cures would induce an improvement in performance, =
even with
a bearing problem, I wonder if the consensus would be to carry out =
such
measures, or to wait until the larger problem could be =
addressed.<BR><BR>Fred
and Marc..can you tell me what is accomplished by sanding (or planing) =
out the
string grooves? As much as we are cautioned about "over tapping" =
the
strings to the bridge, it seems it would be a lot easier to do serious =
damage
in the groove-removal effort. Likewise, unless the bridge edge =
has been
mangled, what would be the purpose of renotching?<BR><BR><BR><BR>David =
Skolnik<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>