Bridle Straps spring clip reply

[pianoman]

Hi,
Here I go again,
	Why should anyone be ashamed to have put spring clip bridle tapes on an
action if it is done neatly and solidly and it works.  Why take other
things apart just to put on another part.
	Should we be ashamed to install the Vagias snap on elbows instead of
replacing the old plastic with wooden elbows, wires, and buttons.  I used
to do the latter but found it dumb to spend the extra money and time to put
on all that stuff.
	  We are playing with the clients money with our time and probably the new
SCBS will last as long as the action it is being installed upon.  I see,
and have seen, no evidence to the contrary that SCBS's wear out any faster
than ones drilled into the butt.  I do go a step further,  as I leave my
Spring clips with the U pointed up which gives me a place to put a drop of
glue to make sure the clip does not move around.
James Grebe
R.P.T. of the P.T.G.
 St. Louis, MO.
Competent Service since 1962
 Do what is right and do no harm
 Creator of  Handsome Hardwood Caster Cups and Practical Piano  Peripherals

pianoman@inlink.com        

----------
> From: Steve Pearson <SPearson@yamaha.com>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re: Bridle Straps spring clip
> Date: Monday, September 14, 1998 5:51 PM
> 
> Back when I was an independent tech, I tried all of the various methods,
and in the final analysis, came back to doing it by the book.  Using a Hale
hammer head extractor, I removed the backstop heads, & cleaned up the dowel
with a hammer shank knurling tool...the cheap end-of-the-combination-handle
type. Having established the correct length for the bridle tape, I then
glued in the new tape, sans cork, clip or tack, and reglued the catcher
onto the dowel.  I never found any pre-made ones the right length anyway. I
honestly don't think it took any longer, and I was never ashamed of the
results.
> Steve
> 
> >>> "pianoman" <pianoman@inlink.com> 09/14/98 02:45PM >>>
> Hi All,
> At the risk of being disagreed with I beg to differ that the use of
spring
> clip bridle straps reduces the technician to names muttered under the
> breath of someone else looking at the work.	I see no reason not to use
> SCBS's if the catcher has no hole.  If you argue that it adds mass to the
> action the answer is yes.  If you say it is an expedient repair rather
than
> pulling the backstops yes.  If you say that it doesn't work for long
> periods of time and use and reduces the technician to a hack I say no. 
> Neither does the use of cork tip bridle straps.	
> 	When I first was learning all this stuff, the common method was to drill
a
> small hole in the butt directly under the catcher dowel.  We had made a
> little tool that the bridle strap fastened onto and we could premeasure
the
> amount that was inserted and glued in the hole.  When the glue was dry
the
> waste ends could be clipped off.  It took twice as long as using cork or
> spring clip tapes and in the process of trying to drill that small hole
> sometimes screwed up the catcher and or butt.  Did that ensure that the
job
> would last longer, no.
> 	So I am on the side that using SCBS or CTBS is just as professional as
> going through all the trouble of removing every catcher and doing it the
> long way.
> 	I wonder who decided that SPBS's was unprofessional and wrong and where
> was I when that was done.
> James Grebe
> R.P.T. of the P.T.G.
>  St. Louis, MO.
> Competent Service since 1962
>  Do what is right and do no harm
>  Creator of  Handsome Hardwood Caster Cups and Practical Piano 
Peripherals
> 
> pianoman@inlink.com