Knight piano/English plastic

[Dave Nereson]

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  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Tvak@aol.com=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Monday, April 21, 2003 5:44 PM
  Subject: Knight piano/English plastic


  List

  Today I tuned a Knight studio console piano.  This piano, manufactured =
in=20
  England in 1966, has many plastic parts.  Plastic hammer flanges, =
plastic=20
  damper dowels, and a one piece plastic jack/flange.  It doesn't look =
like the=20
  kind of plastic used in American pianos in the 40s and 50s.  The =
plastic is=20
  dark gray.  There have been no plastic parts broken so far.=20

  Is this plastic a cause for concern as it is in American pianos? =20

  When did the era of crumbly plastic piano parts end? =20

  Did the English piano manufacturers have a different, possibly more =
durable=20
  kind of plastic than the Americans?

  I need to advise the client of the long-term viability of this piano.  =
Other=20
  than the plastic parts, this is quite a nice piano which a gorgeous =
tone for=20
  an instrument its size.   A really full bass and absolutely =
false-beatless=20
  treble. =20

  Perhaps one of our English list members can advise me regarding this =
piano=20
  and its plastic content.

  Tom Sivak

  P.S.

  Interestingly, the piano has a mute pedal with a mute rail similar to=20
  Yamaha's, and stamped right on the rail are the words, "Remove the =
celeste=20
  with the wing nuts only." referring to two wing nuts which allow you =
to=20
  remove the rail without unscrewing it from the sides of the cabinet. =20

  I had never heard of a mute pedal being called a celeste. =20
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      Most of the crumbly plastic action parts I find are on early 50's =
(American) pianos.  And it's curious that it's mainly plastic elbows =
that break, then the damper flanges.   I would think the most stress and =
strain would be on the hammer flanges, but they don't seem to break very =
often. =20
      Also, the only kind of plastic action parts (except modern Kawais =
with the black jacks) I find are the early 50's crumbly kind.  Oh, and a =
few contemporary pianos with plastic damper blocks.  But it seems after =
the initial attempt at using plastic, it was not done again for 20 years =
or more, with a few exceptions. =20
      As to the "celeste rail", I've never heard that terminology, =
either.  The celeste is a small keyboard instrument with tone bars =
instead of strings, but I don't hear any similarity in its sound to the =
sound of a piano with the "practice pedal" engaged.   =20
          --David Nereson, RPT
       
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