Nora, Even if the Knabe is smaller, it is good to check the tenor stringing scale. I encountered one from that era in the 5-6 foot range that had original strings at 94% of breaking strength when up to pitch, if possible. My redesign went up to 60% and turned out fine. John Ashcraft On Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 3:28 PM, Joe DeFazio <defaziomusic at verizon.net>wrote: > *From: *"Roger Gable" <roger at gablepiano.com> > *Date: *October 8, 2010 2:54:12 PM EDT > * > * > Nora, > I agree with Barbara and William that these pianos are not much to write > home about. > > > Hi Nora, > > I will respectfully disagree with this assessment. I find "pre > Aeolian-American" Knabe grands to be among the better built grands of the > first three decades of the 20th century. That wide tail and heavy > understructure separate Knabe's from many of their inferior contemporaries. > Ron N is certainly right that the bridge cap grain orientation is a > problem, but that's one that can be dealt with. While my opinion is as > subjective as can be, it seems to me that most of the Knabe's from that era > that I have serviced, refurbished, partially rebuilt or played on gigs > (without having had the opportunity to service them) can be said to "have > it." The "it" to which I am referring would be, I suppose, a complex enough > and potentially responsive tone that makes me want to sit and play them, > even if they are in unrestored condition and have had little work beyond > tuning at that point. > > *From: *"Roger Gable" > > Over the years I find one underlying negative aspect to piano rebuilding; > the customer is expecting more than the technician or piano can > produce. This manifests itself when the technician is expecting more than is > possible through naiveté or outright deception. > > > Roger makes an excellent and important point about expectations here. > Managing customer expectations is certainly a key component of a successful > restoration project at any level. The key concept here, as has been stated > on this list many times, is to under-promise and over-deliver. From the > moment I encounter the potential customer, I try to be as candid as possible > about the limitations of the work in question. > > So, after a thorough evaluation of the piano, I might discuss various > options and price points with the customer, starting with a total rebuild > with a new board, followed by a reuse of the shimmed and epoxy-coated board > with rescaling and bridge recapping and/or repair, followed by just an > action rebuild with new bass strings and some board/bridge repairs. At each > step down the price/complexity scale, I take great pains to point out the > shortcomings of that step as compared with the more complete step above it. > I take the time to enumerate the musical deficits that might be encountered > with each lesser options, and I compare the cost of the rebuilding work in > unfavorable terms to the cost of buying a different new or used piano in > better condition. In effect, I am trying to "unsell" the work at that price > point. If they choose to go ahead with the work anyway, they have been > fully informed about its limitations and their expectations are probably > realistic. Then, of course, while doing the work, I try my very hardest to > exceed their expectations and over-deliver. As for the wisdom of > "unselling" in a business where sales are crucial to our economic survival, > I do think that it makes sense, in that over-promising and under-delivering > can do much harm to our reputation and future ability to attract business > (I'd rather not have the work if it is going to lead to an unhappy customer > down the road), whereas under-promising and over-delivering can lead to very > happy customers and many referrals. > > As a case in point, I will refer to a Knabe grand of about the size you are > considering, Nora. The customers, both long time professional musicians > with fine careers, chose the action rebuild with new bass strings option. > Another technician had given them a highly inflated monetary value that > they could expect the piano to command after a rebuild. I worked right away > to deflate both that monetary value and some other expectations that they > had acquired from another technician or from some other source. > > I worked very hard on their action, and on some on-site soundboard and > bridge repairs, and had James Arledge rescale the bass. When I returned the > action for regulating and voicing, I spent most of an afternoon leveling > strings and voicing, during which time the clients were listening to me play > with great anticipation. When I felt that the voicing was in the ballpark, > I let the husband sit down and play, and he got lost in the piano for some > time. When he finally stopped, he said something like "I never in my > wildest dreams imagined that this piano could be anywhere near this good." > Under-promise and over-deliver. And I do think that Knabe's have the goods > to let you over-deliver. I apologize if this little story sounds too > self-congratulatory; I certainly have many failures and problems to > overcome in my work, but they are not because of over-promising. They are > usually because pianos are inanimate objects that really don't care one bit > about the piano technician who is pouring his/her heart and soul into them > in an effort to improve them. Or, they are because of some (hopefully > momentary, but you never know for sure) stupidity on my part. > > Less than a year later, I ran into another Knabe of similar size and age, > with an action in dreadful condition. Here, the clients only had the > resources for a minor amount of shop refurbishing of the action. The piano, > after only several hours of work plus a tuning really sounded far better > than I expected. I do think that Knabe grands are well designed in general, > and typically have musical potential. There are some scaling problems in > the tenor of some of the largest ones, but that won't pertain to the one you > are considering rebuilding. > > As for specific problems to watch out for in rebuilding Knabe grands, in > addition to the bridge cap grain orientation that has been mentioned, look > carefully at the counterbearing angles between the tuning pin and the front > termination (agraffe or capo). Sometimes, the bass strings practically fall > down a cliff as they leave the tuning pin (here, you may want to adjust the > tuning pin lean). And sometimes the treble front duplex plates are so high > that string rendering can be a problem (you may want to grind the bottom of > those down). I have always lived with the flattened balance rail pins; > replacing 88 key buttons is challenging, and little errors can lead to big > problems. Look at and consider the lyre attachment system before you make > your estimate; you may want to change it to the plate system if it is > dowels and pins currently, and that takes time. Sometimes, the damper heads > are a little undersized (I will cheat the felt out a little past the front > and back of the damper head to compensate). And you will get brownie points > if you can tell us the reason for those cutouts in the inner rim that open > into a cavity between the inner and outer rims (I don't know the reason). > > Good luck with it, > > Joe DeFazio > Pittsburgh > > P.S. - all of the above only refers to the "real" Baltimore Knabe's. The > Aeolian (Rochester) ones I have seen are really a different and lesser piano > (though not a terrible piano by any means). > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20101011/e2339107/attachment.htm>
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