Jasper American Piano

[Kevin E. Ramsey RPT]

Yeah, Terry, you got it......it's a Kimball. I had one customer with one of
these, and she had me tune it regularly. It would swing all over the place
with every change of weather, and you had to bring the pins  plus or minus
about 25 cents before the pins would actually move in the block. Bring
plenty of patience and a strong back. This is one reason I wasn't sorry to
hear the Kimball was going out of business. As my mentor Gene Rudder said
once, "They went to a lot of trouble to make a lousy piano."
----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2000 7:35 PM
Subject: Jasper American Piano


> Anyone ever hear of a Jasper American Piano? I tuned a 42" console today
> that was reported to be about 5 years old. It had the name of a local
small
> time piano dealer bolted/nailed/screwed/glued to the plate and to the
> fallboard. On the front edge of the pinblock top down at the bass end was
a
> little sticker that said Jasper American Piano Company - Model 434F -
Serial
> #J41005. Isn't that like a Kimball model number? The plate had "Made in
USA"
> cast into it at the top. Is this a Kimball? Or is Jasper a company? It
sure
> tuned like a Kimball. One of the yuckiest newer pianos I have ever run
> across. Hammers were like little concrete blocks. Even the lady of the
house
> (non-piano player who thought the poor piano, which had never been tuned
and
> was 50 cents flat, sounded in pretty good tune) thought the piano sounded
> "tinny". Yeah, a bit of an understatement. Anyway, anyone ever hear of
this
> piano?
>
> Terry Farrell
> Piano Tuning & Service
> Tampa, Florida
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
>