I've been asked to consider restringing and doing some action work (hammer and hammershank/flange replacement) on a 1903 Bleuthner (#64301). The instrument has a rather anemic sound throughout the trichord section which may be caused by insufficient downbearing and/or what I believe is a low tension string scale (the lowest tenor string is #19 and highest soprano is #13.5). There's also the possibility that the strike point isn't correct--the hammers were replaced but the shanks appear to have been recycled. Anyone have any specs/insights that might be helpful in deciding whether or not to tackle this one? The Renner catalog has what appears to be the correct replacemenet shank but I don't see any of the "wippen" or underlever parts in that catalog. Does Bleuthner even exist in its original incarnation? Tied strings! YIKES! Anyone have a jig that'll make that work less taxing on the fingers? Also, I wonder if there are any scholarly (or even attempts at it) publications on the history of the piano tuner/technician--as in the human being, not the machine. Seems like I saw something approaching scholarship in the Journal once upon a time. I've been asked so many times about the subject that I guess it's time I broke down and did some studying! All leads to that material will be appreciated. (My own search in our library didn't turn up much of anything.) Thanks for the help! Ron Torrella University of Illinois
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