<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4807.2300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>    Hi = Guys:</DIV> <DIV>    A good way to = describe the plastic parts to the owner is to make a comparison to dry = pretzels.  They both break very easily.......</DIV> <DIV>    Mike = Kurta</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black">From: <A title=cedel@supernet.com href="mailto:cedel@supernet.com">Clyde = Hollinger</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">To: <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">Sent: Saturday, July 12, 2003 = 9:35 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">Subject: Re: lessons = learned</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>Tom, Both are good lessons to remember.  We all know that = experience is a good teacher, although most of us hope to avoid learning that way, at = least in the sense you did. Terry's response was good, as usual, so I won't repeat what he = said.  The last time I worked on one of these buggers I talked with the owner = how repairs sometimes call for stressing the other parts a little, such as = pushing an upright jack a little to the side to get to the hammer flange = screw.  That normally works okay, but when working with brittle plastic you = can work your way into lots of unwanted additional work right down the line. And that's exactly what happened when I had to replace one of her = damper flanges.  I barely had to breathe on its neighbor and there she goes.  Since I had discussed the situation beforehand and gotten = approval from the owner, she paid for the work I did, but I left with one = damper flange still broken.  I pointed it out to her, but since the damper = still worked okay I couldn't see putting more money into the piano, and she = agreed.  A note on the service card now reads, "Don't touch this piano = again."  I hope I have enough fortitude when she calls again to stick to that. Regards, Clyde Tvak@aol.com wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE="CITE">To all Today I taught myself a couple of lessons.  First of all, I will never break = the following rule ever again: Don't ever...ever....even TOUCH a plastic flange unless it is glued to the = doorknob of the exit door and even only then if there's no other way = out. I = replaced a set of elbows today.  I knew that it had plastic wippen = flanges.  Why was I so careless snapping that first elbow in place?  The = price?  Removal of the spinet action to replace the cracked plastic wippen flange. The = other 87 elbows snap in place with no further problem due to extreme care on = my part.  Adjust the lost motion and...play the piano.  = Hmmm...the hammer on middle C is double striking.  I'll just move the = backcheck forward and... (What was I thinking...?) Out = comes the spinet action to replace the newly broken plastic wippen = flange.  While replacing the wippen flange I brush against a damper lever and...now = I can replace the plastic damper flange on that damper lever and... the = one next to it which I also bumped into with the = screwdriver. Back = goes the action and as I play the piano I realize that the damper lever on D5 = is not damping due to it's also being cracked.  (I did look at them = all while they were out of the piano, but it was not visually apparent.)  = Now, I was nowhere near D5 so I wonder if this was a pre-existing problem, = which leads me to the next lesson I learned: Check the piano first to see if there are any problems. BTW, = my original service call on this piano was 6 months ago at which time I replaced = 4 elbows and informed the client of the existence of all the plastic = flanges, and the costs involved in replacing them.  I advised him NOT to = put any money into this Lester spinet, other than replacing those 4 elbows = that had already broken.  Six months later he called to tell me to go = ahead with the elbows.   In the back of my mind I was thinking, = wasn't this the piano with all the plastic flanges?  But rather than say = anything, I just went ahead and made the appointment.  Which leads me to = the last lesson for the day: Take = better notes on each piano for future reference. I = rarely share my experiences with others on the list.   Hope this was worth = reading... Tom = Sivak</BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>