Bill: How does the isopropyl work with softening the plastic in acetone so commonly used as hardener today? Wally Wilson, RPT Ravenswood, West Virginia Columbus, OH chapter Billbrpt@AOL.COM wrote: > In a message dated 8/29/00 1:08:53 PM Central Daylight Time, > BSimon999@AOL.COM writes: > > << A customer who called me is looking to buy a Brambach console made in 1987 > but is a bit suspicious of the age of the piano. I have it through Pierce > Atlas that Kohler and Campbell owned the Brambach name but they went out of > business in 1983? > > Were Bramback pianos produced in 1987? > > Is the Brambach name currently in out of production? > > Thanks for any help. > > Bill Simon > Phoenix >> > > I saw and worked with a few pianos made in Korea with the Brambach name > around 10 years ago. I don't know which Korean manufacturer made them or if > any are being made now with that name. I haven't seen any more for many > years. They were imported through Baldwin. These were studio model pianos > and were well prepared from the factory as Asian imports go. I never saw any > console model pianos but sometimes, a studio model piano is called a console. > > > Although these pianos had what I considered to be good, normal tone, this is > the kind of piano that often has had far too much hardener put in the hammers > at the factory. As a professional piano technician, I would not tell the > dealer nor the customer that the piano is "no good" because of it, call it a > "PSO" or suggest that all of the hammers be replaced. > > If you tried to use voicing needles on such a piano, you wouldn't get very > far, you'd just end up breaking a lot of needles and make no improvement. I > heard about the use of fabric softener in such instances many years ago so it > is nothing new. The idea that there might be an "antidote" for too much > hardener is a reasonable one and might even be useful in an emergency for a > valuable instrument that had been mis- (or overly) treated by another well > meaning technician. There is a time and place for all good and effective > techniques. > > While I also have some concern about foreign residue that fabric softener > might leave in the hammer felt, I'm afraid that the product brand name, > "Snuggle" is what was upsetting more than anything else. "Surfactant > solution" might not have been quite so. > > There have been many ideas discussed on this subject. Personally, I always > look for the easiest, most effective way to make a difference in a difficult > situation. I ended up with a technique that works for me in such instances > which is cheap, leaves no residue and is always effective. I simply use 70% > Isopropyl alcohol straight out of the bottle, right on the striking surface. > I sometimes combine this with a little needling once the alcohol has broken > up the hardness enough that the needles can be inserted. > > To do a good and effective job does not necessarily mean that lots of time > must be spent. This goes for tuning, regulation, voicing or really, anything > else. Yes, the job should be done properly but I must admit that of all of > the voicing jobs that I have done, the ones that took the least amount of > time were often the ones where the customer was very, very pleased, to the > point of offering a tip or making some kind of special complimentary gesture. > > Bill Bremmer RPT > Madison, Wisconsin
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