Relocating Knuckles

[Isaac OLEG]

Ok , I get it better now.

A nice setup is certainly very necessary of course, as roller
alignment is somewhat critical.
It should be possible also to use an expanding glue in a less than
tight shank and use a ruler or even a better gig to align the rollers
while gluing them, with the shanks screwed in position.

But doing that with old shanks was what I understood first.

I am curious about the setup to be used nowadays.

Best Regards.

isaac OLEG


-----Message d'origine-----
De : pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]De la
part de Phillip Ford
Envoye : vendredi 21 mai 2004 19:17
A : pianotech@ptg.org
Objet : RE: Relocating Knuckles


>I can't find a benefit spending so much hours of work to produce
>second hand parts.
>
>Unless the flange shape is really something special, or the action is
>asking for a particular placement of the roller, I see no real
>advantage. Indeed we don't pay so much than you for the parts I
>presume.
>
>Best
>
>Isaac OLEG

Isaac,

To give one example:

I was recently hired by a dealer to fix a Steinway action that had
been
'rebuilt' by another technician.  They complained that it played like
a
truck, but liked the way it sounded.  The rebuild had only been done a
couple of months before, so all the parts were essentially new.  New
Steinway hammers on new Renner shanks and flanges with 15.5 mm knuckle
location.  After looking at the action numbers it was apparent that
the
action was never going to play well with those hammers and that
knuckle
location.  Since they liked the sound I didn't think I should alter
the
hammer weight.  So, the knuckle location had to be changed.  Since I
don't
have experience relocating knuckles on existing parts, and am not set
up to
do it, I quoted them a price for extracting the hammers and rehanging
them
on new shanks and flanges with a different knuckle location.  This was
a
lot more money than 2 or 3 hours of my time and a set of knuckles.
Since I
don't yet charge $150/hour, just the cost of the shanks and flanges
alone
is more than 2 hours of my time and a set of knuckles.  I've done a
couple
of these jobs now.  If I had a setup such as David describes I could
do it
more cheaply.  And in the interest of full disclosure, since the
customers
seemed happy to pay for extracting hammers and rehanging them on new
parts
(if your piano doesn't play, what are you going to do?), if I could
instead
spend 2 or 3 hours of my time, I don't think I'd feel guilty about
charging
a bit more than my usual hourly rate for those 2 or 3 hours (I'd feel
even
less guilty when I considered the fact that they didn't hire me to do
the
work in the first place, but got someone else who was 'cheaper').

Regards,

Phil Ford


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