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<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Hi Ray,</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>I resurrected a Heintzman, with the same problem,
the action had been manufactured in the U.S., in the 50's.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>I got the parts from Schaff, and they went on with
no problem that I can remember,</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>I don't believe the damper levers were plastic,
just the flanges, backchecks and jacks.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Replacing all the plastic parts, is the only way
to go.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>Regards,</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV>John M. Ross<BR>Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada<BR><A
href="mailto:jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca">jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca</A></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=ray@bentley.net href="mailto:ray@bentley.net">Ray T. Bentley</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, June 17, 2003 10:40
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Jesse French Plastic</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yesterday, I had to disappoint a 90 plus year old
lady by telling her that her piano is unusable (no use to tune it) at
this time because of plastic parts failure in her Jesse French piano.
It's probably a large console with a case designed like a studio with the
entire top lifting up much like many Baldwin Hamiltons. It appears to be
from the early 50's, though Pierce doesn't give any dates for it. Over
30 back checks are completely gone with a half dozen or so having been
replaced with wood at some time in the past. At present there are
another six or eight damper levers (plastic, too) that are
broken.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The question:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Are parts available to fit this action to
repair it? I told her that it would probably take a commitment of
several hundred dollars to replace all of the plastic, even if suitable wooden
replacements are available. She and I both feel that given the age of
both the piano and the client, that repairs are probably not economically
feasible. I feel that repairing only those that are broken at this time
will not produce long lasting satisfaction, as other parts will no doubt
continue to break in the future. Any thoughts or
suggestions?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thanks to all.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ray</DIV>
<DIV><BR>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<BR>Ray T. Bentley, RPT<BR>Registered
Piano Tuner-Technician<BR>Alton, IL<BR><A
href="mailto:ray@bentley.net">ray@bentley.net</A><BR><A
href="http://www.ray.bentley.net">www.ray.bentley.net</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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