This took place with the church 6 or 7 years ago, so it is not the burning issue of the day, and the damp chaser stayed in the piano. Let me put it this way: It is in the best interest of the customer to begin the process by contacting the manufacturer or the dealer that sold the piano. Assume nothing, and give them the opportunity to provide a sensible and honorable solution to the problem before considering any remedies on your own. Most will try to do right by the customer. The manufacturer needs the assurance that the problems are properly diagnosed before committing their resources to remedies. That is only reasonable. If you can get the manufacturer to properly honor the warranty, that is in the best interest of all parties involved. Will From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of William Monroe Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2010 6:57 PM To: David Ilvedson; pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] tuning pin tightness And, at the last Convention and Institute in GR, Kent Webb re-iterated that position. Essentially saying that S&S recommends controlling the room, period. If that can't be done satisfactorily (ever) DC units are helpful and positive if installed properly. S&S will always place caveats on these things, like the, "if installed properly" one. It's a Cover Your Own position as S&S doesn't want to even remotely suggest they would be liable for anything untoward........yada, yada. If in question, and if someone at the local S&S dealer suggests otherwise, encourage them to call Kent in NY and encourage your clients to do the same. And, I would suggest Kent as the contact. I know personally of others in NY who don't happily follow that position, and would add ambiguity to the conversation. William R. Monroe On Sun, Jan 31, 2010 at 5:44 PM, David Ilvedson <ilvey at sbcglobal.net> wrote: >From Damppchaser's website: Manufacturer's recommending their product... Steinway & Sons "The installation of a Dampp-Chaser Humidity Control System can, in our opinion, provide a degree of climate control for the piano which may not otherwise be attainable." Sounds like you ran into a loose cannon...he may have been talking about under the pinblock...? David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, CA 94044 ----- Original message ---------------------------------------- From: "William Truitt" <surfdog at metrocast.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Received: 1/31/2010 3:37:22 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] tuning pin tightness >Hi David: > >I agree with you that the 15 watt damp chaser bar under the block is unlikely to >destroy it, and would perhaps to some degree loosen the pins in a desirable fashion. > How much and whether that would be enough is another question. My point was >that such use would not necessarily be viewed favorably by a manufacturer. I recall >a few years ago I had installed a d. c. unit in a Steinway in a church that had >significant and tuning destabilizing issues due to excessive humidity and then >dryness. It quieted the pitch movement down as expected. Some time later in an >unrelated matter, the church music director had a conversation with the area >Steinway dealer, who advised her to remove it because it would damage the piano, >and told her that it was Steinway's position that these units did more harm than >good if improperly installed. Therefore, they advised against the use of them. I >thought that was idiotic, but that seemed to be their official position. > >I agree with you on more radical (actually more sensible) solutions if not under >warranty. Les will have a selling job to the manufacturer , to be sure. Still the >effort should be made; nothing ventured, nothing gained. He needs to charge >appropriately for his time ASAP, for sure. Or decline to work on the piano in the >future. > >Will -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100131/849e86a7/attachment.htm>
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