Kranich and Bach Plate Crack

[Les Smith]

Great post, Ric!

Just to clear up one point, the K&B fallboard decal is the one that has a
large bird in it which, upon close examination, most resembles a turkey!
You can't say they didn't warn you. :)

Les

 

On Sun, 27 Sep 1998, Richard Moody wrote:

> 
> 
> ----------
> > From: Les Smith <lessmith@buffnet.net>
> > To: pianotech@ptg.org
> > Subject: Re: Kranich and Bach Plate Crack
> > Date: Saturday, September 26, 1998 11:04 AM
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Sat, 26 Sep 1998, Richard Moody wrote:
> > 
> > > To put it bluntly, this is a defective design. 
> > 
> > I assume that you're talking about the whole piano here, not just the
> > plate.  If so, I think that criticism is unjustified. Affter all,
> > K&B did have an attractive fallboard decal. 
> 
> OK Les I will rise to the bait if I can stop laughing long enought to
> type. I didn't mean the whole piano unless it is the one that had the
> action with  pot metal brackets and capstains that break when they decide
> to call the tuner for the first time in ten years.  Or the legs secured by
> two seating dowels and two screws of which the movers lost one or more.
> And without thinking you  to suggest to the lady of the house to move it
> out of the corner away from the wrap around picture windows. Hell, leave
> it there and hasten it's demise.  Or the lyre that comes unglued and the
> pedal box sits on the floor, or the pedal board has stripped out its four
> screws. Viva Reader's Digest for getting such a mess back together. You
> don't even wanna know what is inside the pedal box
> 	And what do they call the knuckles that really aren't knuckles but a band
> saw swagger cut on the shank with a piece of leather glued over it? (Well
> actually they do resemble knuckles more than do rollers, a name I never
> cottoned to) And on the keys instead of the maple inserts for the b r
> holes its just through the soft pine, and its not just lousey b r bushings
> but the key is also warped because it wasn't choice grain to begin with. 
> 	Is this the one with the bridge pins that USED to go 1/8 inch beyond the
> cap but now don't because they are so split out?..... Which draws your
> attention away from the sound board that looks like it was made of pine,
> and is pulling away from the ribs with multi cracks?  And when viewing
> this from underneath you wonder for a split second why every thing is so
> visible then you realize there are NO support posts. 
> `	The top falls off because of three short screws, (as if they were trying
> to save $ by using short screws) or the fold back part is sliding off
> because they used a piano hinge that takes twice as less screws and they
> are short at that? 
> 	The action is held down by nifty L shaped screws, but they are so tight
> the action doesn't slide back after the soft pedal is let off, or so much
> pressure is needed on the pedal, the lyre pulls apart. Instead of the
> keyblocks holding down the front of the action there are two tiny blocks
> with two screws that got swapped and put in gackwards and upside down
> because some one was too laZy at the factory to mark them? Has moth damage
> because they didn't use the right moth proofing? The music rack slides
> have to be unscrewed to tune the first two strings? Who the heck ever uses
> those notes anynow? 
> 	The fall board decal?  What fall board decal?  Oh there is, or what is
> left of it through the checked and crumbling cheap varnish. 
> 
> 	
> 
> Ric The Stic'ler for lousey details
>