[pianotech] nomenclature

[Ron Nossaman]

A plea for sanity,

While it's still a long way from comprehensive, there is a standard 
reference in this country that would eliminate most of the 
characteristic recursive guesswork when someone asks a question making 
up parts names as they go along. For $20 and shipping, "Piano Parts and 
Their Functions" would often save considerably more than that in 
cumulative time spent just trying to understand the description. A lot 
of us were in the business long before the piano crisis hotline existed, 
and will likely still be when it ends, and so were forced to figure 
straightforward mechanical linkages (and a lot of other things) out for 
ourselves. Given the amazing luxury of an on line knowledge base willing 
to help, the consideration of using the most widely recognized and 
nominally standardized nomenclature gives the people trying to help 
something to work with, without making long Q&A translation not worth 
the effort. With a $20 book, we'd save 20 posts attempting clarification 
as everyone could look up the same common names, and start with the 
actual problem.

I understand that it's an unreasonable expectation, but it remains what 
I consider a reasonable request to at least make some attempt to 
accurately name what we're talking about.
Ron N