Baldwin caster socket question/Keith McGavern

kam544@gbronline.com kam544@gbronline.com
Sun, 6 Oct 2002 22:50:13 -0500


>...Would that I had used the term "less expensive", not tweaked your quarry?
>IMO, Cheap is Cheap. As I have not run into the term "university style
>caster", please expand on this please.

Less expensive would have been nice and accurate. They definitely are 
not inferior as your "cheap is cheap" seems to imply. Of course, that 
is just my internet perception of your comment.

Since I service two universities along with the private sector, I 
most likely coined the term university style caster from when I used 
to order the sets from American Piano Supply, page 101, "For schools, 
churches, studios or institutions...", knowing that a school and an 
institution constitute  a university. And the Schaff catalog, page 
135 states, "Approved by all school boards. That might be advertising 
hype to some, but it okay with me, and Pianotek Supply Company, page 
A-24, says, "These dual-wheel casters are ideal for pianos."

Add that to my personal activity tuning these type pianos and 
servicing these type casters makes it relatively easy for me to 
endorse the Schaff style #1592, page 135, as very acceptable. 
Obviously, there can always be circumstances that might dictate 
otherwise.

>  Most Hamilton uprights

I trust you are refering to Studio size pianos, as that is what I am.

>...As most schools want to avoid any Liability problems, they,
>when given the choice of "original equipment", as opposed to the "best"
>available, will choose the latter.

Well, if you are talking about Liability problems for grade schools 
and high schools and what's supposedly better, I would recommend 
neither, as I don't see either set of casters as the best. I would 
recommend Twin Dollies at the minimum where space permits for the 
movement of the piano.

>...The ladies of the house greatly appreciate this, as it is
>very easy for them to pull the piano out, to clean behind...
>Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)

If needed and installed correctly, the Schaff style #1592, page 135 
would be very easy to manipulate in the manner you speak, and the 
Darnell's would be an overkill for such a minimum activity as moving 
a piano out from the wall and back.

Of course, if someone just wants to feel good about having the 
Darnells' as the next level of quality caster and is willing to spend 
the extra money to have them installed on studio pianos that were 
necessarily designed for them, I certainly wouldn't contest that 
issue at all. The Darnells' are unquestionably a superior quality.

Keith McGavern
Registered Piano Technician
Oklahoma Chapter 731
Piano Technicians Guild
USA

"You want to know how old the dictionary I use is? It doesn't have 
the word internet in it."   kam544

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