resource management

[Ron Nossaman]

One of the pianos on my schedule today was described over the phone when 
the appointment was made as a rebuilt Steinway. Is I was driving out, 
knowing no more about it than it's being "rebuilt", I went over the mental 
checklist of what I expected to find - and not find. I wasn't disappointed, 
which disappointed me... again.

It's a 1905 A, two bridges. Refinished, gleaming plate, beautiful looking 
shimmed soundboard, all visible hardware re-plated and dazzling. Asking for 
any problems I should be aware of besides tuning, a sticking damper was 
mentioned. Removing the music rack, key slip, cheek blocks and fallboard, I 
got the distinct impression that the piano had been assembled while the 
finish was still soft enough to stick things together. It went back 
together a whole lot easier than it came apart. Setting the action aside, I 
found a damper with a very tight guide bushing and a couple of split shot 
clamped on the wire. The shot hadn't helped. Reaming out a half dozen guide 
bushings and getting all the sluggish dampers working and adjusted again, I 
went to my mental list and started checking things off. Original back 
action, solid sustenuto tabs, new damper felts and refinished heads, new 
Abel hammers, tapered but not tailed, and new shanks and flanges. That's it 
for the action. The rest is original and noisy.

Bearing measured quite reasonable throughout, considering the concave 
soundboard - over 2mm past flat even along the longest rib, as well as the 
usual killer octave. Bridge looks to have been capped, then badly drilled 
and notched. Nicely finished, as is the board - at least on top. New 
pinblock (I think), with the tuning pin holes countersunk on the bottom 
side. Odd, but neat looking. Pins tight and riding the plate.

Tone quality was just what you'd expect. Hard high distortion clang on 
attack, not much evidence of lower partials, with the sustain sounding like 
it was provided almost entirely by the duplex. Lots of high thin partials, 
no meat.

About the only thing this piano missed from matching my expectation list 
was that it didn't have 4/0 pins in the old block. They bought it from a 
dealer about a year ago, which was also on my mental list. Everything that 
had little to nothing to do with performance, but everything to do with 
appearance, was done quite well on this piano. Virtually everything that 
should have been done to make it into a performing instrument instead of a 
shiny piece of useless furniture was ignored.

So now there sits a truly lousy sounding and playing piano of vastly 
greater potential than was realized by the standard dealer rebuild I've 
come to know and expect in this part of the world. Less than one third of 
the work was done for what is typically three fourth's of the price of 
doing it right, or better. The customer thought she had bought a rebuilt 
piano. She didn't. The piano was raped, as was the customer, and it is now 
almost a certainty that it will ever be done right, or better, because of 
the money already spent. She'll probably call someone else next time who 
will lie to her, since I didn't. I suppose it's just as well.

 From there, I went to a 64 note Pianola "player". A-1 to C-7 compass, 19 
note (all monochords) bass, the rest bichords, 6 of them wrapped. She 
wanted me to look it over and make sure everything was OK, then tune it if 
it needed it. A semitone pitch raise, tuning, and back destruction (mine) 
later, it was less bad and as OK as it was likely to ever get. They were 
thrilled.

I'm not sure just what it is, but something just doesn't seem right...

I don't intend to answer the phone tonight. Maybe not tomorrow either, so 
don't call.
Ron N