<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><div>David,<br /> What pains me about this thread is that while you and your customers ( and surely many others across England) are spending all this time, money, and attention on these musically terrible old overdamper pianos<br />(you know it's true!) here in the States, likely 250 VASTLY superior instruments are being sent to the dump every day! (Big, solid, full-plate uprights that would cost $20,000 to $50,000, if built today. And some with cases also quite artistic.) So, why don't you just look at some pics on Craigslist postings over here, pick some out, have a competent tech handle arrangements and import them?<br />(Only half-joking.)<br /><br />Thumpe</div></td></tr></table> <div id="_origMsg_">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span>
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David Boyce <David@piano.plus.com>; <br>
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<span style="font-weight:bold:">To:</span>
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<pianotech@ptg.org>; <br>
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<span style="font-weight:bold:">Subject:</span>
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[pianotech] The Heated Floor and the Birdcage <br>
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Sent:</span>
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Fri, Dec 21, 2012 10:03:12 PM <br>
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<font face="Arial">So anyway,<br>
<br>
Today I went back to the old overdamper piano in the house with
in-floor heating (on which, thanks for everyone's comments; very
helpful). At the beginning of November I had spent some time
getting the action working, and achieving some semblance of a
tuning, after forty years of neglet and no tuning, latterly in a
damp moldering unoccupied house.<br>
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The owner had said in an email that after that first session, it
quite quickly went out of tune by a semitone at the ends. In
point of fact, when I went back today, I found that it had not
done that at all. What I think had happened was a psychological
effect. Last time, when I finished tuning and played a tune, the
guy was quite moved and couldn't speak for a moment, because this
was a piano from his boyhood holidays in his great-aunt's house,
and it had not been tuned or played for decades. SO, I think the
emotional effect, was to make him think it sounded better than it
actually did. When that emotional effect wore off, he perceived
the piano as having dropped. That's my theory anyway, a
'psycho-acoustic' effect.<br>
<br>
I found in fact that, while the unisons had certainly gone a bit
fruity, there was no large overall change, and no section that had
markedly dropped. So today I did a proper pitch raise. I thought
to aim for A440, and the tenor and treble would have taken it, but
I immediately perceived when I started on the covered strings,
that it was too risky; there was that feeling of "tautness" and
the first bichord string broke. Thin-looking core wire too.
Reflecting that the piano may well have been made for A435, that's
what I opted for, and the piano went there quite happily
(Proceeding with due caution and due Protek CLP on rusty bearing
points).<br>
<br>
Time will tell as to how the tuning lasts, but the (obling dammit)
pins were quite tight. I did however rebel at the overdamper rail
overlapping half a dozen tuning pins, and filed grooves with a
rasp I took for that purpose. This piano cannot ever have had
those notes adequately tuned in its life, for I doubt if any
tuiner ever took off the overdaper rail and strip muted, and using
the tuning lever tip to lever the rail down makes it impossible to
set the pin properly. What I did admittedly wasn't pretty, but it
worked.<br>
<br>
The overdamper action has jacks with no heels. As on the last
visit, I had to replace one of the springs, a previous replacement
that wasn't working.<br>
<br>
Some pics attached.<br>
<br>
Best regards, <br>
<br>
David.<br>
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