Jannsen... (Was Winter & Co.)

[Vanderhoofven]

Hi Terry,

Ran into a Jannsen console last year.  I ended up using lots of epoxy and 
bolting the case back together at the top, AND at the bottom.  Also reglued 
the bass bridge back on and epoxied loose bridge pins.  When I was 
finished, it held a tuning but the tone was poor.  The church I did this 
work for either gave away or sold the piano, so I haven't seen it again.

If you do repair the pinblock separation, also check the bottom of the 
case, because it is likely falling apart there also.  The advise to junk 
the piano is good.  A student needs a piano  in good repair, that is 
structurally solid and is in good regulation.

Sincerely,
David A.. Vanderhoofven
Joplin, MO

At 03:03 AM 10/22/02, Terry Farrell wrote:

>Hey, I've got all your Winter spinets beat hands down! Went to tune a 
>1950s Janssen 37" console (with the droopy keys) yesterday. The guy said 
>it had been 15 years since the last tuning (sounded more like 50 years) 
>and the bass sounded "wet". Opened up the top and saw that the pinblock 
>had separated from the back posts more than 1/4". It was almost up to 
>pitch at the far bass and treble, but 1/2 note flat in middle. I told him 
>to junk it. He told me he will (actually he said he will sell it!), but 
>his little girl takes lessons and he needed to get this thing working at 
>least for a while - just long enough to see if she will take to the piano.
>
>I looked at the bass bridge - falling off - bridge had moved half way off 
>the apron. He asked me to fix it. I did - goobered thick super glue, 
>pulled out strings to pull bridge body off apron and let glue back there, 
>hit it with kicker, and bass sounded......well, not "wet" anymore. Well at 
>least it sounded that way to me. He listened to it and thought it sounded 
>so darn good that it didn't even need a tuning! I said &#%$ing fine, and 
>collected my minimum service fee.
>
>I did say to him that I hear from many teachers that a youngster playing 
>on such a piano can be very quickly discouraged.
>
>Some people.   :-(
>
>Terry Farrell