<HTML>In a message dated 1/8/01 10:23:27 PM Central Standard Time, mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com (Farrell) writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Kimball</BLOCKQUOTE> How on earth did you guess.  I should add that the tuning pins were driven to the proper depth, the coils were neat and uniform and the feel was firm but easily moved without any jumping.  It was easy to tune compared especially to some of the pianos mentioned recently on this List, including Steinway, both grand and upright.  There was not a hint of false beating.  The high inharmonicity scale actually works to my advantage in the way I tune both temperament and octaves. In short, I had no complaint nor any reason to think poorly of this piano. To me, it looked like one of Kimball's pianos from the Chicago factory but the tag I read clearly stated that it had been made in French Lick, IN with the case being made in Jasper (where they apparently still do make piano cases).  Everyone knows that their quality control and workmanship went down drastically during the '70's (and maybe a little before and after too) but that it did recover in the last few years of production. But couldn't that be said of Steinway too during its CBS ownership?  To me, the Teflon bushings were more of a scapegoat for numerous defects in workmanship.  The materials were sometimes questionable but the workmanship made matters much worse.  I think you could say the same for Kimball when it was at its worst. One long term client of mine who is also a good friend who throws an annual wine and cheese party has a Kimball Viennese edition upright.  He hires a pianist to play for the event.  At that last event, I heard the owner ask the pianist what he thought of the piano.  His answer was "rich tone".  It really surprised me because I was thinking exactly the same thing. Everyone knows about the bad ones but I think its important to note that as a company, Kimball was capable of and did produce some good pianos.  Their old grands had a really rich tone like none other and their really old uprights were very well made although their brass flanges were not easy to service. Coincidentally, my 3rd appointment of the day was another Kimball, this time a "Kimballette" from the Chicago factory in the 1950's.  It had a direct blow action but had keys with a big step in them.  It was very out of tune and hardly played at all because there was so much lost motion that the hammers just bobbled against the strings.  The keys appeared unlevel and floating.   There was so much lost motion in the pedals that they barely worked.  It sounded terrible and was unplayable. Now, I have 90 minutes and can decide to turn it down, badmouth the manufacturer and make the customer feel stupid for even having this thing in his living room and thinking it is a piano or I can use the knowledge and skills I have built over the years and make this instrument capable of playing music.  I wouldn't earn much money doing the first option but I would doing the second. So, in checking things out, I see that the capstans need a full turn or more.  It could use cleaning but no keys were sticking so I decided to do a capstan adjustment only.  The alignment was good and there were no rattling flanges and the let-off was reasonable close.  Taking up the lost motion also made the dampers lift properly.  But there is no capstan tool I know of that will even reach these capstans, not to mention all of the tedious turning. The best technique is to pull the key out and give the capstan the estimated turn easily with the key in hand.  Just as in tuning, making a technique like this work requires being able to make a good estimate.  The goal is to move through all of the capstans quickly and easily, avoiding stress and to pick out just a few here or there that were a bit over or under turned. As often happens, when I finish, the customer knows it and comes out saying, "Now that's *beautiful*!"  I never get tired of hearing that.  He sat down to play and I heard the word "yes" and the sighs and/or moans of pleasure that I hear from nearly anyone who plays a piano I have tuned and serviced.  He told me he was glad he had found me because he had about given up hope that this piano would ever sound and play right.  He said, in fact, "All the other tuners I ever got *hated* it". Well, I didn't hate it at all, obviously, but what I really did enjoy was the reaction of the customer to 90 minutes of good solid technique applied efficiently and effectively.  I also enjoyed the nice 3 figure check that he wrote for my work.  To paraphrase Liberace, "I hated that Kimball all the way to the bank". Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin</HTML>