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To All my esteemed colleagues
Probably all of you are aware of a rebuilding outfit across the border
in Juarez, Mexico.
I've seen two recently "rebuilt" Stwys that were a disaster with one
exception.
The first was a 1908 A-2 in ebony. Standard case Round style front. The
best part of the job was the finish work. I've seen plenty & this & 'twas
quite nice & the satin rubout excellent. The plate finish was fair. New block
of some sort but the string job was poor. Poor coils & not pulled up.
The sound board was a literal venetian blind of shims that were installed
to look cosmetically nice from the top but it was literally the worst I've
ever seen. Horrible board discoloration & of course the shims all those shims
sticking thru. Crown? Bearing? yeah,uh huh
Bridges toasted of course.
The action once again had the ever ineffective Renner 15.5 mm knuckle
shank placement & the ever heavy
un-prepared & bored wrong hammers (not Renners fault). It Needs new keys.
The Regulation poor, tone poor
etc etc etc.........
The very nice gentelman that purchased it for 33k was looking for his last
& dream piano. Bad dream
I value it maybe 12 to 15K. The restoration estimate 24K
The other was a 1906 O. Once again nice satin Mahogany finish. The top
treble rib was broken & hanging down. The rest of the scenario is, second
verse same as the first. Value 8 k She paid 15,000 & not stung as bad. But now
she's stuck with a loss or spending the cash to get the real deal.
All the action cleats were loose & the action was rattling around.
Hammers bored too short by over 1/8. One cleat was replaced it was so split it
was unusable & the sos spring screw holes were so stripped the sos was floating
around & causing notes to stay open. The block so split I replaced it. The
"new " pinblock was sitting 1/8th inch off the treble shelf.
I was just giving her a band aid with the 17K estimate.
The moral of the story is don't shop on e-bay & no there really aren't
any totally rebuilt stwys for sale in that price range.
This gal ignored good advice (mine) before she purchased it & then
expected a stamp of approval when she called. I was nice but bad news is just that.
This is just another business scam in different clothes. Dress it up and
sell it is the name of this dealer game & if I sound annoyed well.... I hope
this helps someone out there. Pass this E-mail to the client who is looking at
one of these rip offs.
So to ya'all buyer beware & you heard it here first.
Regards & Blessings
Dale Erwin
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