<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Re: [CAUT] Practice Room Piano Benches</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1458" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I'll take some and send them = out!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Elwood</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>Elwood Doss, Jr., RPT<BR>Piano Technician/Technical = Director<BR>Department of Music<BR>145 Fine Arts Building<BR>University of Tennessee at Martin<BR>Martin, TN  38238<BR>731-881-1852</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE 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=ZahringerK@missouri.edu = href="mailto:ZahringerK@missouri.edu">Ken Zahringer</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=caut@ptg.org href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">College and University Technicians</A> = </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, December 09, = 2004 11:52 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [CAUT] Practice = Room Piano Benches</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=Garamond><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px">Elwood,<BR><BR>Sounds like a great idea. =  How about a picture or drawing, so I can be a copycat?<BR><BR>Ken Z<BR>-- = <BR>Ken Zahringer, RPT<BR>Piano Technician<BR>University of Missouri School of = Music<BR>297 Fine Arts Bldg<BR>Columbia, MO = 65211<BR>573-882-1202<BR>cell 573-489-7529<BR><BR><BR><BR>On 12/9/04 11:45 AM, "Elwood Doss" <<A href="mailto:edoss@utm.edu">edoss@utm.edu</A>> = wrote:<BR><BR></SPAN></FONT> <BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face=Arial><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 13px">While = this piano bench thread is active, let me tell you about our practice room = piano benches.  We purchased new Baldwin Studio pianos for our = practice rooms—please, no comments about the quality of the pianos—about = 5 years ago and year before last the custodian for our building started bringing = broken benches into my shop.  I do check the tightness of the bolts on = a regular basis—snug, but not too tight--but the students began = bending the bracket that the leg screw tightens on.  After about 3 had = shown up in the shop, the Chair asked me to look into purchasing new benches to = replace them.  I suggested benches with stretchers on them—they were = about twice the cost of  the regular type of benches.  When they = came in I took a look at the stretchers and thought, “I can do that to the = broken benches here in my shop.”  Sure enough, I designed one, used = very dense wood from Africa, some good wood screws and glue and went to work. =  It worked so well, my work study students ended up retrofitting = stretchers on all the practice room pianos.   They have held up = beautifully, and no custodian meeting me at the door holding a bench with a crooked leg!<BR> <BR>Now I’m sure all of you old heads do this all = the time, but it was an idea that paid dividends and saved the Department = several thousand dollars in new bench costs!  No, I didn’t get the = surplus as check bonus!<BR> <BR>Joy!<BR>Elwood<BR> <BR>Elwood Doss, = Jr. M.M.E.; RPT<BR>Piano Technician/Technical Director<BR>Department of Music<BR>145 Fine Arts Building<BR>The University of Tennessee at Martin<BR>Martin, TN =  38238<BR>731/881-1852<BR></SPAN></FONT><FONT size=4><FONT face="Times New Roman"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT = face=Garamond><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></SPAN></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT face=Garamond><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14px"><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></SPAN></FONT></BODY></HTML>