This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Oh! Yes John. I live near Lewes in Sussex where, on Bonfire Night (Nov.5th) the burgers of Lewes all dress up in costumes and parade through that ancient town with brass and silver marching bands and blazing torches. It's quite a sight. Maybe one year I'll have a blazing piano mounted on a "float" and have it towed through the town - and thrown into the river afterwards. Anyone got any ideas of what piano deserves such an end? (I plump for an Eavestaff pianette) :-) Regards Michael G.(UK) _____ From: John Delmore [mailto:jodel@kairos.net] Sent: 03 October 2005 18:02 To: 'Pianotech' Subject: RE: some days you get what you ask for Just be sure not to let the torch singe your hair!! (Couldn't resist! Same as the wrest pin/tuning pin, I'm sure you know that, across the pond, a torch is a stick with fire on the end!) _____ From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Michael Gamble Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 12:41 PM To: Piannaman@aol.com; pianotech@ptg.org Subject: RE: some days you get what you ask for Yes, Dave, That was some day for you. I always try to repair broken bass strings whenever possible, even if it means cutting back the windings on the speaking length and making my gnott there. I find it works for maybe the knot replaces the missing mass of copper. I did that on one-of-a-pair of bass strings in an old Bluthner upright (vertical) and there was no mis-match - isn't that something? As for treble pairs - again I try repair by "pulling it round". Of course this can only be done if the break occurs at the wrest pin (sorry, tuning pin). I keep the string on the hitch by using a mini vise-clamp or even a surgical clamp (Joe G <G> gave it another name, but I've forgotten). My light frequently comes from a torch held in the teeth! Yummy! Regards from the failing light of a cloudy evening in The Village. Michael G.(UK) _____ From: Piannaman@aol.com [mailto:Piannaman@aol.com] Sent: 03 October 2005 05:40 To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: some days you get what you ask for List, Friday was certainly an interesting day on the job. First piano was an old Erhard upright, a nice old box made in 1919, pretty good shape. It had a broken high treble string on it, which I'd been aware of, and I replaced it no problem. Next piano, Acrosonic, circa 1950s. Pitch raise, twang, G#2 wound bicord snapped. A perfect candidate for one of the universal bass strings a lug around. As usual, spinning off excess copper was the most time consuming part of this job. Again, no real problem. I was thinking about how much I've improved in various repairs, thanks to many tips gleaned from this list and elsewhere in the PTG. This type of repair was once something I dreaded, now it's just something I do in the line of duty. "But," I told myself, "don't get cocky. How long's it been since you've replaced a long wire in an understrung section of a piano?" It had been awhile. Which brings me to the next piano: Steinway, a regular client, a nemesis piano that always finds a way to lengthen the appointment beyond an acceptable length. A 1915 or so M re-whatevered badly a couple of decades ago. I was hoping for the best, but it was the usual 8-10 cent late-summer pitch raise. No problem, at least until I got to A3. Twang. The A#3-A3 wire snapped. Went to the car, got stringing stuff including tube to get string onto hitch pin. In the failing light of the day, I got the job done, but time would have been saved had I brought in my shop light so I could see better to route the wire through the bridge pins. The upside: 3 strings on the day, no bloody finger tips. The weirdness: Haven't had a string break in a few months. Why did they all gang up on me on one day??? Tip #1: putting some tension on the wire makes it MUCH easier to get the string placed properly around the bridge pins in the understrung areas. Tip #2: Lighting is a good thing when doing this sort of job! Thanks for reading, Dave Stahl ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/a2/fa/4c/b7/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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