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<DIV>Thread number one</DIV>
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<DIV>There was a thread a short while back about some wooden pressure bars
.........</DIV>
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<DIV>About 15 years ago or better I found a wooden upper bass pressure bar on a
Wellington upright to be so heavily grooved that the bass strings no longer had
a clear tone. (like it was totally groovy baby) I determined that
the lack of definite termination was the reason and added a piece of 22 gauge
wire at the pressure bar string alignment pins. You have to look fairly
close at this image but you can see the wire resting on the pins. I just
tuned it today and it’s still working fine. The strings may be steel wound
and a bit duddy but at least they’re all the same tonality. Previously
there was a pronounced difference between the double wound and the single wound
strings.</DIV>
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<DIV>I can remember my fears on this call ........... the fear of
charging to replace the bass strings and all that goes with that process only to
have the same dull sound. Instead I offered to do a cheap fix first and
see if that worked. Her grandchild is 6 and doing quite well on the
piano.</DIV>
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<DIV>Thread number two .......</DIV>
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<DIV>I tuned a piano on Sunday ....... (what can I say, I was paid
extra and it was a surprise from the Dad). New customer, first time on
this old upright, (Melostrelle by Steger and Sons) 55 to 60 degrees in the
house, pitch was close and tone was OK. In the upper right hand, C52 or
so, I made 5 passes and it still wouldn’t stay in tune. It acted like the
plate was cracked and so I removed the action to have a look. I thought I
could see hairline cracks but my fingernail wouldn’t catch anything. I’ve
had experience with such things in the past and the crack is usually at the
strut by the “number three” action support bolt. I looked there and found
what I thought was a disruption of the finish in the area. More such
things were found lower in the plate in the area of the nose bolt pretty much
directly below C52. In each case I couldn’t get my fingernail to catch
anything. The camera wouldn’t pick up what I was seeing. The tuning
would go sharp in this area as I made my way past it into the following octave
and when I’d lower them back down, they’d continue to go too low as I’d move
around in the area correcting others. The area affected was repeatedly
around action bolt number three. Sharp, then flat, then back sharp and
back again as if something was acting like a lever as I’d change the tensions in
this area.</DIV>
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<DIV>Setting the strings came to mind and to that I asked myself, “why only in
this area”. Additionally I put forth extra effort to really set each
string with each pass through the area. I even tried second guessing the
amount of drift to achieve a viable result in the end. Tough gig.</DIV>
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<DIV>At some point in time the piano had experienced a massive glue failure in
the entire bass end of the soundboard, top to bottom. There was a
line of screws about an inch apart the entire length of the soundboard
reconnecting the soundboard with the frame/rim. A tired pot of glue on a
Friday contributing to additional loss of glue adhesion in the back posts is
what I’m thinking. I didn’t feel I needed to pull the piano away from the
wall to inspect. I had all the information I needed to “file a report”
with the customer. Long story short, the piano is untunable until
additional work is done and I don’t think the factory will consider replacing
the instrument at this stage of the game.</DIV>
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<DIV>It’s not often we run into cracked plates but two symptoms led me to my
conclusion. The see saw action of the tuning and the total lack of
stability in a zone making the piano a total frustration to tune. After
two and a half hours of back and forth, I was convinced. Any one else care
to comment on this phenomenon?</DIV>
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<DIV>Thread number three ...............</DIV>
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<DIV>The other day I was cleaning a piano in the customer’s home and my phone
rang. I was still wearing my Cyborg earpiece and so I thought I’d continue
working while talking on the phone. The caller wanted to chat with me
about a piano she was considering buying and so we talked about typical things
like it’s age, condition, the move, tuning prices and a host of other
things. As the call went along and I continued to pull dried flower bits
and Xmas glitter from under the plate, I got the impression she was just simply
lonely and wanted to talk with someone. I guess I was more or less
convinced of this when she asked, “If I have you come tune my piano, you aren’t
going to pinch my butt are you??”. </DIV>
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<DIV>............. I bit my tongue rather hard.</DIV>
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<DIV>Supposedly the guy that had the piano for sale made the fleeting
strike.</DIV>
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<DIV>I could comment some more BUTT I wouldn’t want this thread to become a rope
around me sorry neck.</DIV>
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<DIV>Yep, all in a day’s work eh?? The upper left edge of the map is a fun
place to live and work.</DIV>
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<DIV>...... and with that boys and girls, it’s PBR time.</DIV>
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<DIV>Lar</DIV>
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