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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I am just finishing a full restoration =
on a 1893
Knabe 57" upright. Why the tuning instability? This model =
Knabe is
VERY suseptible to temp and humidity change. Only because =
of personal
reasons did I take on this job. In other words it's a freebe for =
the
steaming historic Liberty museum ship, the S.S. John W. Brown. =
Both ship
and piano built in Baltimore. The 3/4 plate flange is tightly
wedged beneath the pin block, and is wraped under the piano =
bottom and
screwed there. I think this plate and S.B. configuration does not allow
for much movement due to climatic change. I discovered this =
piano in
a wharehouse on a Baltimore dock next to the ship. It had been =
there since
WW II covered with what pidgens do. The tuning was still near =
435 and
the pins were tight. However the SB was split pulling the ribs =
loose. One
should note that this era Knabe used #1 by only 2" tuning pins, take =
care what
size you re-install. We have replaced the sound board and the bass =
pin
block. The bridges were fine. We had to remove the bass side =
of the
case to get the extremely tight fitting plate out of the =
piano.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The action has a double stack with =
rocker capstans
and is very hard to find action parts. After stringing and kept in =
proper
climate conditions the tuning is very stable at A440 with a booming tone =
some
grands would like to have. I've had the piano in my shop for about =
4
years, working between the pay jobs. IMO this type of job should =
never be
undertaken with profit in mind. Maybe before I check out, this =
old
veteran ship of WW II will get a nice piano for her crew and =
passangers
as she visits ports along the Atlantic coast. Visit it at <A
href="http://www.liberty-ship.com">www.liberty-ship.com</A>. =
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Carlos Ralon, =
RPT</FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>