[pianotech] Sohmer scale

[Terry Farrell]

Awwwwwe, jeezzzzz Wim, you really have yourself a situation there.  
Wow! I'd sure have Ron N or Del F make you up a new scale. They know  
what they are doing and won't break your bank. Then just go to it -  
bit by bit - or however it will work for you. With the owner working  
that close with the project, it sounds like a disaster in the making -  
BUT, I do have to admit that a couple/few really fun times I've had  
putting a piano together was with the owner. If s/he is tolerant and  
good natured, perhaps you can make a few bucks, make a piano much  
better than it was, and have a dog-gone good time doing it! I hope so.

Let us know what shakes out.

Terry Farrell

On Jan 6, 2011, at 7:20 PM, tnrwim at aol.com wrote:

> Here is the situation with this Sohmer. It's on the island of Kauai,  
> which had a major hurricane go over it in 1992. The piano was  
> soaked, and then sat for 15 years in a cabinet shop. 6 years ago my  
> client bought the piano for $100 and put it in his living room with  
> the intension of rebuilding it himself, but he soon realized that he  
> was in over his head. Then he suffered a major injury, and nothing  
> was done until this spring, when he called me and I inspected the  
> piano. I gave a bid for $5000 to put on new strings, pin block,  
> etc., and shipping the piano to Oahu. He rejected that bid. Against  
> my better judgment, I agreed to restring the piano in his living  
> room over a period of time. So in September I went there and took  
> off a bunch of the strings in the high treble. There was a scale on  
> the plate, and I told him that is what I needed to restring the  
> piano. But when I got there on Monday to put strings back on, (he  
> had bought strings from Schaff,) he very proudly showed me how he  
> had refinished the plate and soundboard, (a good job), but covering  
> up the stringing scale numbers. He at least did write some things  
> down, but they didn't make any sense, so I had to invent a scale. I  
> started with the first treble strings, and because some of the  
> strings he bought were rusty, (that's another story), I skipped a  
> few notes, but when I got to the end of the middle treble, I ran out  
> of hitch pins. So I recounted, and checked, but couldn't figure out  
> what went wrong. So I thought I would start from scratch, and get a  
> scale, and start over.
>
> What is surprising, is that after 20 years, and with the kind of  
> water damage that the piano suffered, the pin block is tight, there  
> are no cracks in the soundboard or bridges, and the action is a  
> great shape, considering the age. The guy has refinished the case,  
> more or less, and it's starting to look like a respectable  
> instrument. No, if I can only get all the strings on, I think it  
> will turn out OK.
>
> Wim
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