At 08:55 PM 5/2/2000 -0400, Brian wrote:
>I really need to get myself a copy of the Pierce Piano Atlas.
It's a great resource and when I pull it out many customers ask if they can
thumb through it while I'm tuning.
>I haven't really considered whether I should do any retrofitting or
>redesigning of the action. (Haven't gotten that far yet.) Any opinions,
>yea, or nay?
I used to own a similar piano... a Style E from 1884 (#52538) that was
originally shipped to Halifax Nova Scotia and somehow ended up on the edge
of the prairies. A few years ago in a discussion with Darrell Fandrich we
talked about retrofitting a Fandrich action into it to replace the tubular
double-flange action. I have no idea if that option is still available, but
you could email Darrell (or Heather more likely) at fandrich@oz.net and
talk about it.
Mine was barely playable as it was with a mixture of old and poor-quality
"newer" parts and it had suffered through much tinkering over the years. It
still had "that sound" though, even though it had cracks in the soundboard
you could stick your fingers through. It was in the process of being
rebuilt when it was destroyed in a fire. You can see a picture of it after
the fire at http://www.musselwhite.com/pub/piano/fire01.jpg
As you'll see, it wasn't the only one to go.
http://www.musselwhite.com/pub/piano contains a collection of photos and
newspaper articles that refer to discussions we've had in the #pianotech
IRC chat channel.
John
John Musselwhite, RPT - Calgary, Alberta Canada
http://www.musselwhite.com http://canadianpianopage.com/calgary
email: john@musselwhite.com
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC