The BEST part in a situation like this is telling the
customer that the former "technician" did useless and
crappy work. USUALLY the customer gets mad at YOU
instead of them! ( And doesn't believe you, i.e. "That
nice old man, xxxxx, worked on MY piano!" ( Smiling,
with beaming eyes. )
Does anyone here have suggestions on how to
handle telling a customer that the work they just paid
for is absolutely worthless garbage ?
Thump
P.S. I played a small private reception for a
celebrity you'd all recognize last night, in a big
mansion.......... on a Wurlitzer console. The owner
came up to me, beaming, "How do you like it ?" I
rejected the first 10 answers that came to mind, bit
my lip and politely said "It's OK ". ( I'm not good at
lying ) "When was it tuned ?" " Sometime in the last
year!" he beamed again.
Sheesh!
--- Farrell <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> Of course! But it's ok because the originals are
> those really nice ones with the knuckle integrated
> into the shank!
>
> I'm sure you all have seen this kind of crap
> workmanship before, but last night I thought I would
> turn my attention to the backchecks and putting a
> radius on the hammer tails. The guy also put new
> backchecks on. Every one at a unique height. Many
> pushing up adjacent hammers upon key stroke. The
> hammer tails hit the backcheck at about a 45 degree
> angle (tails don't check, they clunk!). Then I try
> to gang sand the tails for a radius. Tails are
> angled every which way. In, out, rotated.
>
> If you took all the loose parts, thew them in a box
> and shook it up and then looked inside, you would
> have something that looks pretty close to this
> action. I am exaggerating only slightly.
>
> Arrrrggggg! It would have been less work to try and
> make the original parts function, rather than trying
> to make this hodge-podge of parts function. :-(
>
> Ain't there a law?????
>
> Terry Farrell
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Avery Todd
> To: Pianotech
> Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 5:47 PM
> Subject: Re: Front Rail Punching Interference
>
>
> Just wondering, but did "they" also install those
> new hammers on old shanks/knuckles? :-)
>
> Avery
>
> At 03:56 PM 11/13/04, you wrote:
>
> I think I found part of the problem already. The
> tooner before me "rebuilt the piano" - you know, the
> full monty - new strings, hammers, damper felts (yes
> indeed, hanging way out past the damper heads) and
> keytops - none of which were installed
> straight/aligned, etc. I imagine this thing had
> ivory keytops originally. The new keytops are thick
> plastic (~2mm), and yup, you guessed it, he didn't
> plane the keytops down to compensate for the thicker
> keytops - so now I have keys that are one or two
> millimeters thicker than original.....
>
> Oh well, back to the drawing board ........ er,
> a, regulating table......
>
> Terry Farrell
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: antares
>
> To: Pianotech
>
> Sent: Saturday, November 13, 2004 4:04 PM
>
> Subject: Re: Front Rail Punching Interference
>
>
> Terry,
>
>
> First of all, you need to know the exact key
> height of your key board.
>
> This is the key to your regulation.
>
> For instance.... the key height for Steinway
> model S-B (measured from the key bed to the
> underside of the key top covering) is 63 mm.
>
> For Yamaha's this 64 mm.
>
> It is the only way to get your basis straight.
>
> After that, we're talking.
>
>
> André Oorebeek
>
>
> On 13-nov-04, at 20:47, Farrell wrote:
>
>
> <?fontfamily><?param
> Arial><?smaller>Help!<?/smaller><?/fontfamily>
>
>
>
> <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>I'm
> trying to regulate a Baldwin "Monarch" microgrand
> action. I haven't looked up the piano's age (can't
> find my Pierce Atlas), but it is from the first half
> of the 20th Century. I've run into this before. I
> level keys (1/2" sharp height), regulate blow,
> let-off, etc., and then go to set aftertouch. When I
> have the proper aftertouch on the sharps, the
> adjacent naturals hit the sharp front rail punching
> before they hit their own front rail punching when
> depressing the natural.<?/smaller><?/fontfamily>
>
>
>
> <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>That's
> bad.<?/smaller><?/fontfamily>
>
>
>
> <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>What
> gives? Have I done something stupid? Have I simply
> overlooked something?<?/smaller><?/fontfamily>
>
>
>
> <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>Another
> thing - I have to reduce blow to 1-3/4 inches to
> provide sufficient key travel (about 3/8 inches -
> way less than spec) to allow let-off and a tad of
> aftertouch. I replaced the back rail felt with
> original thickness (which is the thinnest sold by
> the supply houses), I am using the thinnest front
> rail punchings available, and I even have key height
> a little bit higher than they were (and above spec -
> more than 2-1/2 inches - I'm quite sure I'm still OK
> with the fallboard).<?/smaller><?/fontfamily>
>
>
>
> <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>Again,
> what gives? Action clearly appears all
> original.<?/smaller><?/fontfamily>
>
>
>
> <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>This is
> all a lot easier when you rebuild the action, go
> through the Stanwood and geometry stuff, and have it
> all correct from the get-go! Because, as in this
> case, it can't be me, it's gotta be the action!
> Right? ;-)<?/smaller><?/fontfamily>
>
>
>
> <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>Thanks
> for anything anyone has to
> offer.<?/smaller><?/fontfamily>
>
>
>
> <?fontfamily><?param Arial><?smaller>Terry
> Farrell<?/smaller><?/fontfamily>
>
>
> friendly greetings
>
> from
>
> André Oorebeek
>
>
> "where Music is, no harm can be"
>
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