Matthew, Maybe a local dealership would allow you to rebuild it in their back room or shop? Perhaps after that, they might be willing to sell it for you on consignment as well? Just a thought. From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Michael Magness Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 12:18 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Rebuild On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 8:50 AM, Chuck Behm <behmpiano at gmail.com> wrote: Matthew Todd wrote: > I will be beginning my first partial rebuild in a few months. > > A local church is giving me an Ivers and Pond grand. I first would > like to know if this particular brand would be worth spending my money > on for parts. I am not planning on replacing soundboard, block, or > bridge. Once I get it to my garage, I will be able to inspect it to > see if those are needed. > > Since this piano would be in an uncontrolled moisture environment, I > also wanted to know if installing a complete Dampp-Chaser will keep > the piano protected while it is being worked on (i.e. not only the > main DC components, but also an undercover, and string cover). > > > Thanks,TODD PIANO WORKS_* > Matthew Todd, Piano Technician > (979) 248-9578 Matthew - I agree 100% with Wim's comments about heating and air-conditioning of your shop area in your garage. The problem with working on an instrument in an open air shop during the summer in particular, is that the excess humidity (which a Dampp-Chaser system will not remove from the air in general to any effective degree - especially if the piano is broken down with the various parts scattered about the shop) will mask certain problems, and cause others. Cracks in the soundboard many times will seemingly disappear in high humidity environments, then reappear when placed in a home with forced air heat when the first winter rolls around. Pins which seem tight in the pinblock will seem much looser when the piano is in drier air. Plus, if you strip the case, excess heat and humidity can actually peel the veneer right off the case parts (this bit of information is from sad experience). That is not a pretty thing to witness, let me tell you. Reveneering an entire lid because you wanted to save on an air-conditioner is no fun. If your garage is not too big, insulating the walls, and putting in a small window air conditioner (and possibly a dehumidifier) will go a long way towards solving high humidity problems. Are you considering refinishing the piano. The Ivers and Ponds that I've worked on have had very nice cases - well worth the effort as far as having something nice to look at when you're finished. If the piano is one that now belongs to you, I would strongly recommend going at least as far as a new pinblock, along with new strings and new pins. With the plate out, you can properly strip and refinish the inside of the rim, plus try your hand at shimming and refinishing the soundboard. Tackling a soundboard replacement, or replacement of the bridges, could wait for a later project, but at least you would be getting your feet wet as far as major repair procedures. If you don't have a bench yet dedicated to the procedures you will be, I am working on plans for a multi-purpose bench which will be practical for stripping and refinishing, regulating, action work, and pinblock fitting procedures. (The plan is to have this on display at the Schaff display area at Grand Rapids this summer - along with a starter set of restoration tools and supplies) If you're interested, I would be glad to send you a rough draft of the plans for this bench when I have them drawn up. I would love to have some feedback from you (or anyone else interested) before the convention, so that I can make any modifications which seem necessary). Also, you might go back to the January 2008 issue of the Journal and look over my article on the piano parts trolley. This is really a useful device to build for your shop (I have 3 - always in use). I have the plans for the trolley that I would be happy to e-mail to you as well. On the topic of the bench, if anyone who does a lot of shop work has any interest in collaborating with me on a design, let me know. I have 8 benches in my shop - but they none of them are what I would call multi-purpose. I'm interested in any ideas anyone would have on making a single bench functional on more than one level. Just nothing too complicated as far as construction is concerned. I would like it to be a bench that anyone with a few power tools could build on their own. Thanks, Chuck Hi Matthew, I just rebuilt an Ivers & Pond 5' grand for a customer last summer/fall and I can't stress my agreement with the others about making certain to add AC or at least a dehumidifier, maybe 2 to your shop space along with heat and of course insulation. The I&P I did was from 1909 and had a Wessell Nickell and Gross action, one of my personal favorites to redo, probably just because I've done so many. You may find the scaling doesn't match anything in Travis's book, mine didn't and we had to rescale it but it was worth it, the scale is very smooth now with Arledge wound strings, we had wound wire all the way to D3. Good luck, Mike -- I intend to live forever. So far, so good. Steven Wright Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com _____ avast! Antivirus <http://www.avast.com> : Outbound message clean. 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