[pianotech] elbows

[William Monroe]

Agree with Terry on this one.  And not to pick nits, Terry, but aren't you
in Florida?  You callin' that the Mid-West?  Now THAT's kookey!

William R. Monroe
Wisconsin
The "real" Mid-West



On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 9:21 PM, Terry Farrell <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com>wrote:

> $500? Would you (or anyone else) really remove a spinet action and take it
> back to your shop, remove all the keys and vacuum, replace a full set of
> elbows (wood ones at that), tighten all action screws, file/shape hammers,
> make a second trip to the home of the piano, install spinet action,
> re-install keys and do a complete action regulation?
>
> WOW, that's a deal! For the piano owner.
>
> That's kookey.
>
> If I were to do that scope of work, I'd easily double that fee (mid-west
> prices). And most any spinet owner would be ill-advised to put that much $$
> into their little spinet.
>
> Terry Farrell
>
>
> On Nov 22, 2012, at 4:15 PM, John Ross wrote:
>
> Wim,
> I wonder if $500 invested in an old spinet makes economic sense?
> I feel that making the piano operable for the least money is in the best
> interests of the customer.
> John Ross
> Windsor, Nova Scotia
> On 2012-11-22, at 3:31 PM, tnrwim at aol.com wrote:
>
> I know a lot of you replace the old plastic elbows with the new snap ons.
> And, like Laura, even do this with the action in the piano. In regard to
> the latter, because of my girth, I find it very uncomfortable doing
> anything on a drop action, much less replacing all the elbows.
>
> As far as the snap ons, although they are much better quality plastic than
> the old type, they are still plastic. Somehow I just can't
> justify replacing plastic with plastic. So put on wood elbows. But by
> putting on wood elbows, I do more than just replace those parts.
>
> I remove the action. By doing that I also have to remove the keys. When
> those are removed, it also gives me a chance to vacuum under the keys, and
> I often vacuum the bottom of the piano. I take the action home, and do all
> the work on my bench, which is well lit, and I have all my tools and
> supplies at hand.
>
> Before I install all the elbows, i first tighten all the screws and file
> the hammers. The procedure for replacing the elbows is as follows. I remove
> as many of the old plastic elbows from the wippens with needle nose pliers.
> I then remove all the center pins. For putting on the wood elbows, I put
> the elbow in a vise, chuck the wire in a drill, and, zip, screw it on.  If
> the button is too high, I turn it down a little. After all the elbows are
> on the lifter wires, I install the elbows back on the wips.
>
> With the new elbows in place, I put the action back in the piano*, install
> the keys and regulate.  *Even if you strap the wires to the action, to
> prevent the sticker wires from getting jammed between the balance rail
> pins, I drape newspapers of the key bed. Lay the stickers on the newspaper,
> and the action will slip right in.
>
> As I said, replacing elbows is more then just replacing elbows. It's a
> complete action and piano cleaning and regulation job, for which I charge
> around $500, plus tuning. And most of the time, the piano also requires a
> pitch raise.  When you're done, the piano not only sounds great, but plays
> great, too. And the customer will be very happy with the end result.
>
> Wim
>
>
>
>   -----Original Message-----
> From: Marshall Gisondi <pianotune05 at hotmail.com>
> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Sent: Thu, Nov 22, 2012 7:28 am
> Subject: [pianotech] elbows
>
>  HI Everyone,
> Wnen it comes to elbows, I've never heard of using a heat source.  I just
> take plyers and crunch crunch crunch :-)  At the school we were taought to
> take a vice grip and place it on the lifter wire on the point where the
> original elbow was so we knew how far to screw on the replacement plastic
> ones if we used them.  I have and they do well.  I know some believe in the
> wood ones which are harder to install.  Like one tech told me out here, the
> plastic replacemetns will out live me and the customer.   Have any of you
> done an elbow job in the customers home without taking the action out?
> Marshall
> 215-510-9400
>
>
>
>
>
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