<!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 6.00.2800.1264" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I tuned a 1975-ish Baldwin SD-10 last week - =
first one I
have run across. It had a unique front duplex system in the top two =
treble
sections. It was of silver-colored metal and was a one-piece contraption =
that
incorporated the front speaking length string termination and the front =
duplex
bar. It appeared with this gizmo, during manufacture, one could keep the =
front
duplex at some fixed length and move the gizmo around to set the front =
speaking
length string termination at some ideal location. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Is that what this thing was for? If not, what's =
the deal
with the interesting-looking gizmo?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>On the side, this was a piano that seems to be
fundamentally in pretty good condition. I think with A LOT of =
refurbishing,
it could be brought back to 90+% of its potential. It is in a =
huge (as
in mega $$$) church dining hall. It is totally bashed up. Drinks have =
been
spilled all over it. Hammers are stained with coffee,wine, etc. =
Regulation is
way off - obviously hasn't been serviced properly in decades. I, as well =
as all
you folks out there, have seen this before. But why, why, why? Is there =
any
other $100,000 hunk of man-made stuff that any institution would buy and =
then
not take care of at some fundamental level? About the =
only apparent
treatment I can imagine worse would have been if they had stored it =
outside under a sprawling oak tree for a few Florida summers. =
I don't
imagine they treat their altar gold pieces like that (wait a minute =
- this
was a Baptist church - do the Baptists do the gold thing like the
Catholics?). They certainly don't treat their $100,000 sound mixing =
board like
that (or do they?). What about the $200,000 Rogers organ? Is this =
unique to
pianos?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>