Extra parts?

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

Hi Edward:

If you look closely, is there evidence of a broken off voicing needle at
the sharp end of the dowell? I use a single needle voicing stick which
looks quite similar to what you describe. I usually epoxy in the needle. 
When it breaks, it appears like what you have described. Whenever you go
out for chinese food, save the chopsticks, they make excellent voicing
sticks, especially the bamboo ones.  I call these my sugar sticks (harking
back to my Baldwin days. We used Maple and thinned down the sides to make
it easier to go between the strings when touching up the voicing on just
a note or two without removing the action. I can see how a voicing stick
could easily roll down behind the Fallboard on a Samick Grand.

Jim Coleman, Sr.

On Mon, 22 Jun 1998, Edward Carwithen wrote:

>   I tuned a fairly new Samick grand a couple of days ago.  There was some
> minor work that required removing the action.  On top of the keys was a
> small dowel that appeared to be hammer shank stock, except that it was
> about 11 inches long, tapered to a point over three inches of one end.  It
> was pretty obvious that the action had never been taken out before.  I put
> the dowel in the piano bench as it certainly served no purpose where it was.
> 
>   What would have this piece have been?  I don't think it was something
> dropped in the piano by the owners..could be, but I don't think so.  It
> looked like something left behind by the builders.
> 
> Any thoughts????
> 
> 
> Ed Carwithen
> Oregon
>