<!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 6.00.2600.0" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </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"><B>From:</B> <A title=hayforker@earthlink.net href="mailto:hayforker@earthlink.net">Larry Lobel</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, March 12, 2002 5:55 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Chickering quarter grands</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" size=3>I restored one of these a couple of years ago, and recently went back to tune it.  I noticed the damper heads are all askew and have been thinking about how to fix this.  The damper wires are screw-threaded at both ends; that is, into the top flange on the bottom and into the head on top, so they're free to rotate and don't stay aligned to the strings.  I hesitate to do anything that would permanently lock them in place, like gluing them, which would make it difficult for the next rebuilder to deal with.  Anyone have any suggestions for this?</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">I agree these were nicely built pianos, but the tone on the one I restored is weak and antiquated, like pianos built in before 1860, especially in the high treble.  </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Larry Lobel<BR>Virtuoso Piano Service<BR>Petaluma, California 94952  USA</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">(707) 762-5800 or (707) 529-9676</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Another practice is to use "Pin-block restorer" !</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Rani Nir</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>