<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV> <P>Hello list,</P> <P>Just serviced my first Falcone...vertical! I know that it's a relatively new company, founded in the 80's by Mr.. Falcone, a fellow technician. But what I didn't know, is  that they now make uprights in addition to Grands. </P></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <P>So this nice lady calls me, in a somewhat frantic state, asking if i could come out to "fix" a non-functioning key. So i made an appointment with her for the next day. She had just recently purchased it, and had her free warranty tuning (from a different tech). When i arrived the first thing I noticed, after removing the standard case parts, was that on the non-functioning key, the jack spring had popped out. Ok, no biggie. </P> <P>Then she showed me the key the first tuner had actually broken while tuning the piano. He had made a glue repair that was ok, but not perfect, and so that key was rubbing on the adjacent key near the capstan, so I block sanded the sides of the keys to create the necessary clearance. Ok. Then, I noticed what appeared to be pieces of red muting felt that had been cut into small squares and glued under the hammer rail! </P> <P>THEN it dawned on me WHY the key had broken. This was his "Quick fix" to create just enough clearance between the jack and the hammer butt, because there was no lost motion at all, far from it, causing most of the hammers to block against the strings on a hard blow while tuning. I pointed this out to the customer, and emphasized the importance of removing the added felt, to restore the proper hammer blow, then regulate the capstans. She agreed, then asked me to tune it as well. I did, in addition the the pitch raise it also needed.  I also gave her a separate bill for the repairs and told her she should send it to the company for reimbursement. By the way, I had talked on the phone with the manager of the store where she bought the piano, just prior to starting work, and he authorized the repair.</P> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <P>Terry Peterson </P> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr> <a href="http://g.msn.com/8HMYENUS/2743??PS=">Try MSN Messenger 6.0 with integrated webcam functionality!</a> </html>