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<DIV><FONT color=#000080>"the crack-prone Bechstein plates of some =
decades
back"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080>Hi Del. Was there a range of years where this =
was a
problem? Or are most all old Bechstein's subject to this weakness. (My =
specific
concern is my own personal 1900 Bechstein grand that I will be =
rebuilding in the
next year or so.) Thanks.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> <SPAN id=__#Ath#SignaturePos__></SPAN> </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=pianobuilders@olynet.com
href="mailto:pianobuilders@olynet.com">Delwin D Fandrich</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> Thursday, December 13, =
2001 2:41
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Cracked =
plate</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000080 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=mapes_piano@worldnet.att.net
href="mailto:mapes_piano@worldnet.att.net">Todd Mapes</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> December 13, 2001 5:13 =
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Cracked plate</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>List,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This week I experienced my first =
cracked
plate. It's not an experience I would like to have =
again. The
piano was a Kimball console which, according to the customer, had =
not been
tuned in 18 years by the previous owner. The current owners =
had
recently acquired it for $300 and wanted it tuned up so the wife =
could play
Christmas music. I opened the piano up and found a dead mouse =
and
several mouse droppings (the mouse was mostly decayed), which, in my =
opinion
shows that the piano hadn't been tuned recently and probably not =
played in
several years, either. I noticed no other problems besides a =
few
broken Schwander butt springs, so I got out my SAT III and checked =
the
pitch. The piano was 185-200 cents flat. I did the first =
pitch
raise with no overshoot and then checked pitch again. The =
SAT III
reading now was about 35-40 cents flat, so I programmed in a =
25%
overshoot and began tuning the piano at A0. As I crossed the
bass/tenor break, I heard a LOUD "bang" which was much louder than =
any
string breakage I'd ever heard, so, fearing the worst, I got down =
under the
keybed and looked at the plate. The plate had cracked right =
through
the hitch pin area. The crack was all the way through the =
plate and I
called the customer over and informed her of the plate breakage and =
that it
was probably not feasible to repair the plate, and even if it was, =
there
could be no guarantees of success on such a repair. She =
understood
that the piano was a complete loss, I collected a minimum service =
call fee
and left.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Two days later, her husband calls =
me up
demanding that I reimburse him for $300 or provide him with an =
acceptable
replacement. I informed him that I had no intention of doing =
so,
because the plate cracked due to lack of structural =
integrity. He
informed me that his opinion was that the plate cracked due to my
incompetence and/or negligence. I then explained the pitch =
raise
procedure that I performed and told him that to the best of my =
knowledge, I
had exercised due professional care and was not responsible for the =
demise
of his piano. As a parting comment, the customer said he would =
just
have to take me to small claims court and recover his money. =
He could
be bluffing, but then again, he seemed pretty adamant about =
collecting his
$300.</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080 size=2>First, was the breakage =
your
responsibility? Unlikely. Speaking from experience it is not all that =
unusual
for plates on pianos of this type to break on their initial chip to
pitch--which is roughly the equivalent of what you were doing. I mean =
it isn't
something that happens every day, but it's not all that unusual an =
event,
either. Plates of this type were typically designed and engineered =
with a
minimal safety margin. Indeed, it may not have been 'engineered' =
at all
in that sense. More likely the stress analysis consisted of "If at =
least a few
of them don't break once in a while we're probably putting too much =
iron in
there--take out the excess and lower the cost." In other words, =
if the
majority of them don't break, they're strong enough.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080 size=2>Can it be repaired? =
Probably. From
your description of the location of the break it doesn't sound like it =
was an
area of all that much stress. It's a bit late now, but you might have =
looked
for an improperly seated plate or nosebolt in the vicinity. In any =
case, it
can probably be either stitched or welded. Personally, I'd opt for
welding--I've had more experience with it. And, you'd probably want a =
bit of
reinforcement added on for good measure. I've been involved in the =
repair of
quite a few cracked and/or broken plates by now and, to the best of my =
knowledge, they are all holding fine. (I'm not a welder, but I've =
known some
really good ones over the years.) I've also declined even attempting =
to repair
a few, such as the crack-prone Bechstein plates of some decades back.
Apparently a combination of poor metallurgy, overly rapid cooling and
generally poor design. The Kimball plate in question was cast by =
either Kelly
or Wickham. In either case the tensile strength would be up around =
24,000 to
26,000 lbs/in2 minimum. In other words, the carbon content should be =
low
enough that a welder familiar with modern welding techniques and =
materials and
with cast iron Diesel engine blocks and heads shouldn't have any =
problem with
it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080 size=2>Would it be worth the =
effort? Probably
not. No, make that definitely not. The plate would have to come out of =
the
piano, which means restringing and all of the attendant work. The cost =
of
welding, strings and pins just exceeded the value of the piano. Not to =
mention
your labor and moving costs.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080 size=2>You might want to go =
back to the
recent Journal article on broken plates and read up on the information =
presented there. After you are some more conversant on the subject, =
call the
owner back and see if you can get him to see the futility of his =
position.
(But, try to understand his, as well.) In the end you will probably =
prevail in
court, but it will cost you a lot of time in preparation and most of a =
day for
the actual event. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080 size=2>Good luck.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT color=#000080
size=2>Del</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>