Beginners guide to Brambach

[harvey]

[Lost thread reply flood -- catching up]
Was (Re: Jim B's turn! and various threads on Brambach)

Hey, hey, I resemble those remarks! Lemesee, Jim was taking shots at my
tagline; i.e., "Yes, I'm familiar with Brambach... why do you ask?" Then
Susan volunteered the green but well-intentioned beginner scenario.

The rest of the story: During my early years with the Los Angeles chapter,
there was a small period of time reserved at meetings for technical
questions and answers. Inevitably, one of the ole-timers would begin with
"I've got this Steinway that...". 

After several installments of this, I began to realize why I didn't have
any Steinways -- the ole-timers had them all!  I felt too intimidated to
offer "Uh, I've got this Brambach that...".

My tagline is real. It is my actual reply to a telephone inquiry, although
I had a few others on call. However, "Sigh...", "Whew..." , and "Whoaaa..."
don't make good tagline reading.

Other: My first Brambach involved installing new hammers, believe it or
not. That is where I was introduced to severely raked bass hammers. It's
also where I initiated the Harveyism that hammers are the paper towels of
pianos -- they are disposable. On the best advice of my peers, although not
in a chapter meeting, I was advised, (paraphrased) to "duplicate what was
there... regardless of what it takes to make it work." That's when I
learned to quit worrying and love huge knives and mallets. Also discovered
the merits of a good quality disk sander. Also discovered a few things
about instant voicing as a bonus.

My very last experience with a Brambach (to date): A family moved into a
new home (new for them). I was asked to "improve" the Brambach. Looking
across the room, I spotted a Sohmer 6-footer and said, "What about that
piano". 

The response was that the Brambach was "special" -- it was their piano and
moved into the new home. The Sohmer was left by the previous owners. They
had also been told that a pipe in the upstairs bath had burst at some
point, and that the Sohmer had been under the pipe. I cut a deal... Making
the Brambach work (aka "improvements") in exchange for the Sohmer. The
Sohmer is another story.

For Del: I too have yet to see a post-pubescent Brambach. They were all in
the Ken & Barbie size range.

Finally, I seem to recall John Ford mentioning that the premise for
Brambach's existence was similar to that of a car in every garage, chicken
in every pot. The idea was to put a *grand* piano within scope (and budget)
of the masses.


-------------------

At 02:03 PM 8/21/98 +0000, you wrote:
>....but what do I know? I'm not qualified to work on
>>Brambachs:-O
>>Jim Bryant (FL)

>There, there. Not just anybody can do good work on 
>Brambachs, you know. It takes a green but very 
>well-meaning, well-trained, and methodical beginner.
>No one else has both the knowledge and the patience. 
>This is no doubt why we see so much bad work done on 
>Brambachs. (IMHO)


Jim Harvey, RPT
harvey@greenwood.net
________________________
Yes, I'm familiar with Brambach... why do you ask?
	-Jim Harvey, 1974