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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Mike, I work at a =
dealership
that carries several brands made by Samick. I'm not sure if I've ever =
seen a
piano in which the problem was "wood binding",,,,, well, maybe on one =
flange
years ago. Having flanges of all kinds bind up in Samick pianos is their =
number
one problem though, especially with underlevers for some reason. I have =
called
Samick and gotten the runaround a couple of times. Nobody seems to know =
there's
a problem, yet I've talked to quite a few other techs that have had this =
same
problem. I even called up and asked if there was someone who I could =
send in
detailed information as to the recurring problems with pinning that we =
were
seeing here. Someone named Shyuen told me I could just send any reports =
I had in
an email. Sorry, that delete button is just too convenient.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> It's always =
something like, "We
have an agreement with our dealers, they take care of the first $250 of =
any
warranty work", or "Oh, that's a Hyundai? There's no warranty on those, =
and the
dealer knows it."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Anyway, I finally =
got someone
who seems like he actually cares about what he does for a living, and I =
tell him
that it looks like they're using plated pins, and the plating is peeling =
off and
contaminating the bushing cloth. He told me they don't use plated pins, =
they're
stainless steel, and that there is tallow in the bushing cloth that when =
exposed
to heat (What? Like a hot day? Huh?) can come out of the cloth and =
bond to
the pin. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I may live in =
Phoenix, but every
house and business is kept at a comfortable temperature, if not cold, so =
my BS
meter started buzzing. Could it be during the move, in a hot truck? That =
wouldn't explain why the problem doesn't occur until after the piano's =
been in
the home for a couple years. I had kept some of the pins that I had =
taken
out of this one piano to take home and put under the microscope, sure =
looked
like plating coming off to me, but you cut them with nippers and they =
don't cut
like they're made of brass, they snap like they're made of stainless =
steel. So
maybe he wasn't pulling my leg after all. What he suggested I do was to =
get a
hair dryer and heat the flanges up while I worked them back and forth, =
as if I
were trying to convince the tallow to go back into the wool. Haven't had =
the
opportunity to try it yet. That particular piano I used the methanol/ =
water
trick on. Seemed to do the job, but the only real quality job would be =
to re-pin
every flange in the piano. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> If nobody wants to =
pay for that,
then I guess it's not going to get done. Trying to be the customers =
advocate with a company which is doing everything to produce something =
as
complex as a piano for a really reasonable price will get you stuck in =
the
middle every time. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Kevin E. =
Ramsey</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>---- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mjmccoyrpt@earthlink.net =
href="mailto:mjmccoyrpt@earthlink.net">Mike
McCoy</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, January 03, 2003 =
2:16
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Altenburg/Samick Grand =
action
problems</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Two weeks pass and she called =
me again
stating it is a single key "not bouncing", I asked her to have her son =
mark
the offending key, which he did and it was failing when I arrived. The =
problem
was a severely tight jack/flange.. it was taking 1-3 minutes for the =
jack to
get back under the knuckle, again, pinning was not the issue but a =
wood
binding problem. All was well. I didn't charge anyone this trip. Temp =
70deg,
humidity 43%.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Today she called back again, 3 =
weeks later,
with the same issue, different keys. The dealer made it clear to me =
last time
they would not put any more money into this piano so I told the cust I =
would
be happy to fix the offenders or take the action home but I would have =
to
charge for it this time. She told me it had a lifetime warranty and =
the dealer
would have to pay me.</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>