<font color='navy' size='2' face='Comic Sans MS, sans-serif'><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif" size="2">Will</font> <div><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif" size="2">Or </font><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">just</font><font color="#000080" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif" size="2"> let the force guide you?... Luke?...</font><br> <br> <div style="color: navy; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; clear: both; "><font size="1" color="royalblue"><b><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, Serif"><font color="black"><font color="mediumblue" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">Dale Erwin R.P.T.<br> </font></font></font></b></font><font color="darkgreen"><span style="font-style: italic;"><b><font size="1"><br> </font></b></span></font><br> </div> <div style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica; font-size: 10pt; "><br> <div id="AOLMsgPart_1_7778b445-91d0-4f10-91fa-91392fcf78b2"> <div class="WordSection1"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:">Hi Dale:</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:">I only say what my ears and hands and eyes tell me is true.  Too bad too many of the buyers don’t even trust their own faculties, or other techs for that matter.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:">Will</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> <a href="mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org">pianotech-bounces@ptg.org</a> [<a href="mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org?">mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Dale Erwin<br> <b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, October 24, 2012 11:22 AM<br> <b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</a><br> <b>Subject:</b> Re: [pianotech] Blocks</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"> </div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">           Hi WIll </span></div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">  Thanks for vote of confidence for Americas rebuilders. I personally don't believe in the Emperors new clothes. This is why myself and others bring our rebuilds to conventions whenever possible. A picture is worth a thousand words. Or the sound speaks for itself. Seeing is believing...add yer own</span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">  I hope the next piano I can bring is a non- Stwy. I have a 6 ft 2 inch American made case we are currently contemplating hot rodding for Chicago. We're talking about  covering  up the name and let people guess what it is.  Sounds like fun. zooooom, zoooom!</span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> Its an..... Erwins & Sons...Yeah baby. ;)</span></div> <div><blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid blue 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 2.0pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt"> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Steinway still makes some wonderful pianos, and they still make some not so wonderful pianos.  Each can be judged at what it does well and what it does not do well.  </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Finally, it always remains true that you cannot bullshit many of the really good musicians.  That is what allows our best rebuilders like Dale and a number of others to stay busy, even as they swim upstream against the BS.    There is a reason why Steinway felt the need to print this sheet, because there are a number of rebuilt Steinways that do a pretty good job of chewing at Steinway’s heels.  They win the buyer because they sound and play better than many new pianos that come from the factory.  </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Will Truit</span></div> </div> </blockquote></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><b><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:">Dale Erwin R.P.T.<br> </span></b><b><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:">Erwin's Piano Restoration Inc.</span></b><b><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"><br> </span></b><b><i><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:">Mason & Hamlin/Steinway/U.S. pianos<br> </span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.Erwinspiano.com">www.Erwinspiano.com</a></span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"><br> </span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:">Phone: 209-577-8397</span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"><br> </span></i></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"><br> <tt> </tt></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"><br> <tt>  </tt></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"></span></div> </div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">-----Original Message-----<br> From: Encore Pianos <<a href="mailto:encorepianos@metrocast.net">encorepianos@metrocast.net</a>><br> To: pianotech <<a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</a>><br> Sent: Tue, Oct 23, 2012 9:47 am<br> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Blocks</span></div> <div id="AOLMsgPart_1_04f5c0f0-08b2-4b93-aff9-e2453f008957"> <div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">And then, of course, there are those ridiculous Steinway uprights and their flagpoling tuning pins.  It’s what you get when you have a very tight tuning pin coming through a 3/8” thick Kelly plate webbing without plate bushings to give some support to the pin.  I regularly tune a 5 year old K 52 that easily the most difficult tuning piano in my client base.  I know that I am not the only tech who suffers this, I have been hearing this from other techs for 35 years.  </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Did I mention the astounding amount of false beats in the top third of this piano?  It would do a 60 year old Lester spinet proud, as would the astonishingly garbagey overtones in the bass monochords – I never knew a Steinway upright bass could sound that shitty.  (It can sound quite good, actually!!)</span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Ok, my language is a bit colorful.  But I am identifying real problems that exist in these pianos, as are others.  They are the same problems that exist in other pianos and should simply be seen and judged as such by the same standards.  There is nothing that excludes Steinway from the standards of workmanship that we would apply to any other piano.</span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Steinway would have us believe that they know something we don’t.  That may be true for some of us, but it is certainly not true for all of us.  The problems can viewed to the same objective standards by all, and that includes Steinway, their pretensions to being the Godhead to the contrary.  That is what makes their propaganda about rebuilders so galling.  Not only is much of what they have us believe about pianos rebuilt by others than Steinway not broadly applicable, they often don’t meet their own standards as they try to lord over us and bully us out of the picture.  </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Steinway still makes some wonderful pianos, and they still make some not so wonderful pianos.  Each can be judged at what it does well and what it does not do well.  </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Finally, it always remains true that you cannot bullshit many of the really good musicians.  That is what allows our best rebuilders like Dale and a number of others to stay busy, even as they swim upstream against the BS.    There is a reason why Steinway felt the need to print this sheet, because there are a number of rebuilt Steinways that do a pretty good job of chewing at Steinway’s heels.  They win the buyer because they sound and play better than many new pianos that come from the factory.  </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Will Truitt</span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> <a href="mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org">pianotech-bounces@ptg.org</a> [<a href="mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org?">mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Dale Erwin<br> <b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, October 23, 2012 10:54 AM<br> <b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</a><br> <b>Subject:</b> Re: [pianotech] Blocks</span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <pre><tt><span style="color:black">Maybe if the tech is employed by the brand, and has tasted deeply</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre><tt><span style="color:black">of the Kool-Aid, the  sense of torque could be distorted by allegiance,</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre><tt><span style="color:black">but I am not seeing these blocks as impressive in practice. Too much</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre><tt><span style="color:black">inconsistency after a few years to lay any claim to greatness.</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre><tt><span style="color:black">Regards,</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre><tt><span style="color:black">Ed Foote RPT</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre><span style="color:black"><br> <br> </span></pre><pre><span style="color:black"><br> <br> </span></pre><pre><tt><span style="color:black">Ed</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre><tt><span style="color:black"> I find the same to be true. Jumpy popping pins. Variable torque. I think the problem stems from  drilling </span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre><tt><span style="color:black">& then  stringing </span></tt><span style="color:black">protocols which contributes to this. Perhaps Rons double drilling method would help solve     this. </span></pre> <div> <div style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"> <div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Dale Erwin R.P.T.<br> Erwin's Piano Restoration Inc.<br> <i>Mason & Hamlin/Steinway/U.S. pianos<br> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.Erwinspiano.com">www.Erwinspiano.com</a><br> Phone: 209-577-8397<br> </i></span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"><br> </span><tt><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"> </span></tt><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"><br> </span><tt><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">  </span></tt><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"></span></div> </div> </div> <div style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">-----Original Message-----<br> From: Ed Foote <<a href="mailto:a440a@aol.com">a440a@aol.com</a>><br> To: pianotech <<a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</a>><br> Sent: Mon, Oct 22, 2012 9:40 am<br> Subject: [pianotech] Blocks</span></div> </div> <div id="AOLMsgPart_0_47a6dd70-907d-451f-b5bc-4ce0d6b9b65c"><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">Ok,I renamed it,</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black"> </span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">Greetings,</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">       Re the "Hexagrip Pinblock", the site says, "The tighter the grip</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">on> the tuning pins, the longer the piano stays in tune.">></span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black"> </span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">   If this is true, then why doesn't Steinway and Sons use something</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">like Falconwood, where 200 in/lbs is an easy to get target?</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">   And, if this is true, why do so many Steinways have lower torque in</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">the low bass than in the high treble? I have seen this repeatedly and</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">one of these is a very expensive belly job from the Steinway</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">Restoration Dept. I  really think it should be reversed. Who on earth</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">needs to wrestle 150 in/lbs in the top octave? Maybe it is a case of</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">"why use finesse when brute force will do?"  A competent tech can tune</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">a 100 in/lb block as stably as a 150.</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">     Any experienced tech knows better than to give credibility to the</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">idea of Hexagrip superiority. The material is as good as any, but the</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">factory stringing so far down the line in quality compared to almost</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">any other brand I have seen it is hard to know it. Dealer techs usually</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">don't point out low torque pins, as long as the tuning holds, but if I</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">think a problem is up the road, I sure do.</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">     Maybe if the tech is employed by the brand, and has tasted deeply</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">of the Kool-Aid, the  sense of torque could be distorted by allegiance,</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">but I am not seeing these blocks as impressive in practice. Too much</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">inconsistency after a few years to lay any claim to greatness.</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">Regards,</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black">Ed Foote RPT</span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.piano-tuners.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html">http://www.piano-tuners.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html</a></span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black"> </span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><span style="color:black"> </span></tt><span style="color:black"></span></pre></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>  </div> </div> </font>