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<DIV><B>Chuck,</B></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I've never seen one that
bad, but some of the most catastrophic structural failures that I've seen have
been pianos in nursing homes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Here in New England ( Home Of
The World Champion Boston Red Sox ) the residents require the heat to be turned
on in September and it goes full blast through the spring.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> The relative humidity is lower
than my hygrometer will measure and stays that way .No acoustic piano will last
very long in that kind of environment .There might have been a problem at
the factory when this thing was made but I'm betting the humidity condition was
the biggest factor . We want pictures !</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Tom Driscoll</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><B> </B></DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Ribless Baldwin Hamilton</DIV>
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<P>I had to share this one, it was interesting. When I arrived at my
second appointment today at a retirement home I was shown to the
piano. It was a Hamilton like soooo many others, and I generally like
them. I carved out the damper pedal lever where it rubbed the plate,
and starting listening. The bass was rattling the soundboard like
crazy, and I wondered how I had missed the light poking through the
gaps. Nope. No caverns or big splits. It was the ribs
piled up in the back. There were two left partially attached to the
soundboard, the rest were held in by the backposts and were as free as my
advice. <BR></P>
<P>Well, I'll let you guess how this beast sounded. Really it wasn't
as bad as I would have expected considering. The splitting and
curling treble bridge didn't help either, in fact it made the treble almost
completely dead. The funny thing is that the action was pretty ok, the
bass bridge was solid (I had noted this first) and pin torque was even
and tight. Thumper isn't just a bunny.</P>
<P>chuckbeck<BR></P></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>