Prying - was Re: Everett vertical pinblock separation

[Guy, Karen, and Tor Nichols]

At 10:32 PM 12/18/97 EST, you wrote:
>List -
>
>Many thanks for the advice on dealing with the Everett.
>Does anyone have a better solution than taking a chisel to pry that part of
>the cabinet loose in order to examine the pinblock-to-back joint?  Or any way
>to guess the integrity of the joint without gaining access?
>
>Bill Maxim, RPT


Bill,
	Straight edges and plumb bobs are ok tools to use to try to determine if
there is an "integrity" problem with the top of the plate, but they aren't
decisive. Cases vary, and plates can be weird without being separated. On
the other hand, I had an experience years ago that could have been costly
(to me) had I NOT done the chisel routine. Happened to be a player that a
fellow bought at an auction. Had me come look at it and estimate the player
rebuild, at the auction site. Later found out he'd already bought the
thing, and was putting on a show for his wife. Thing held up fine after the
player work for a couple of years.... then this call out of thin air.
"Another tooner was just here, and I want you to buy this thing back!" Huh?
I didn't sell it in the first place, the player was working fine, what the
heck, over? Well... the other tooner never did like players, and it turns
out he'd broken a wire. Said the piano was hopeless... couldn't be
tuned..... and you guessed it, had to be all my fault.
So..... we get there (me and a couple of chaperones), and sure enough, it's
pitch is pretty weird. Check all the standard stuff, look at as much of the
plate as we can see, and determine that under the glued-on cap there must
be a crack. All efforts at educating this "customer" were like brick wall
encounters, so I finally struck a deal with him:
	If there's NO crack, I'll re-install the cap no charge. If there IS a
crack, we'll fix it, and you'll pay me very well, and I'll reserve the
right to refuse you any future service. Out came the chisels, crack found,
fixed, and paid for (very well). Photos taken throughout for posterity and
legal purposes, and I never booked him again.
	To get at least a little technical here, I'll point out that what we do to
remove the cap is loosen one end, from the back, with chisels. Then we
insert what's called a draw-knife (used for chamfering the edges of beams
and stuff). A rocking motion assisted by a rubber mallet reduces the rest
of the job to about five minutes.  If you can, bare the back edge of the
cap with a scraper or something, to determine if the grain is true. This
can help you choose which end to start from.

	You know, the customer in the above story was a real ..... amazing person
to deal with. Raised your blood pressure just to hear him speak. He
grumbled and cursed throughout the entire process, and said many a
disparaging word about me, my crew, my business, the industry, his wife's
hobbies, and you name it. This whole episode was about 15 years ago. 
	Last year, one of his machine operators tangled with a power line, cooking
off his feet and one arm. Glued to his back hoe, the fellow was gonna be
toast. The customer sacrificed himself in an incredible burst of strength
and willpower to dislodge the worker from the machine. The worker survived.

	Go figure.

Guy