<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Re: My first bit of bad news</title></head><body> <div>On 8/15/06, Michelle Smith quoth:</div> <div><br></div> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Today was my first experience with telling a customer that her very pretty 100 year old Ludwig upright has major cracks in the soundboard and needs serious help. </font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"> </font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1">Any sympathy or miracle suggestions are welcomed.</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Arial" size="-1"> </font></blockquote> <div><font color="#0000FF"><br></font></div> <div><font color="#0000FF"><br></font></div> <div>Hi Michelle, no miracles except drywall screws and filler (business cards, veneer, whatever). I would suggest avoiding lots of glue unless you know you can get it down tight. Its a bear to later have to clean out old glue before properly attaching the rib.</div> <div><br></div> <div>Lots of sympathy though, I had to tell a nice man from the Salvation Army that the Baldwin spinet he had brought from the warehouse to put in their just rebuilt (after flooding) chapel was toast. Damndest thing Ive ever seen, the plate was completely split, parallel to the floor, along a line of 2 hitchpins just on the high side of the treble break. I mean completely. The treble strings had so little tension they were curling through the dampers, still on their, now floating, hitchpins. No sign at all of any external damage. Maybe a factory flaw in the casting or design. He was heartbroken, they were hoping to hold services this week for the first time since Katrina with music in their own chapel. Didnt have the heart to charge a service call, it only took me a minute to condemn the poor thing and sometimes you just gotta do what feels right.</div> <x-sigsep><pre>-- </pre></x-sigsep> <div>----Dave<br> <br> <br> -----------------------------<br> Dave Doremus, RPT<br> New Orleans<br> ------------------------------</div> </body> </html>