resource management

[Greg Newell]

Yeah, I know how you feel. Seems like there are more of those days than the 
other kind.

Greg


At 07:56 PM 10/22/2002, you wrote:

>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
>
>_______________________________________________
>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
>

Greg Newell
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net