<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=windows-1252"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1141" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE 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=Tvak@aol.com href="mailto:Tvak@aol.com">Tvak@aol.com</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> Monday, April 21, 2003 = 5:44 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Knight piano/English plastic</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>List<BR><BR>Today I tuned a Knight studio console piano.  = This piano, manufactured in <BR>England in 1966, has many plastic = parts.  Plastic hammer flanges, plastic <BR>damper dowels, and a one piece = plastic jack/flange.  It doesn't look like the <BR>kind of plastic used = in American pianos in the 40s and 50s.  The plastic is <BR>dark = gray.  There have been no plastic parts broken so far. <BR><BR>Is this = plastic a cause for concern as it is in American pianos?  <BR><BR>When did = the era of crumbly plastic piano parts end?  <BR><BR>Did the English = piano manufacturers have a different, possibly more durable <BR>kind of = plastic than the Americans?<BR><BR>I need to advise the client of the long-term = viability of this piano.  Other <BR>than the plastic parts, this is quite a = nice piano which a gorgeous tone for <BR>an instrument its = size.   A really full bass and absolutely false-beatless <BR>treble.  <BR><BR>Perhaps one of our English list members can advise me = regarding this piano <BR>and its plastic content.<BR><BR>Tom Sivak<BR><BR>P.S.<BR><BR>Interestingly, the piano has a mute pedal = with a mute rail similar to <BR>Yamaha's, and stamped right on the rail are the = words, "Remove the celeste <BR>with the wing nuts only." referring to two = wing nuts which allow you to <BR>remove the rail without unscrewing it from the = sides of the cabinet.  <BR><BR>I had never heard of a mute pedal being = called a celeste.  <BR>_______________________________________________<BR>pianotech list = info: <A = href="https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives">http://www.ptg.org= /mailman/listinfo/pianotech</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>    Most of the crumbly plastic action parts I = find are on early 50's (American) pianos.  And it's curious that it's mainly = plastic elbows that break, then the damper flanges.   I would think = the most stress and strain would be on the hammer flanges, but they don't = seem to break very often.  </DIV> <DIV>    Also, the only kind of plastic action parts = (except modern Kawais with the black jacks) I find are the early 50's crumbly kind.  Oh, and a few contemporary pianos with plastic damper blocks.  But it seems after the initial attempt = at using plastic, it was not done again for 20 years or more, with a few exceptions.  </DIV> <DIV>    As to the "celeste rail", I've never heard = that terminology, either.  The celeste is a small keyboard instrument = with tone bars instead of strings, but I don't hear any similarity in its = sound to the sound of a piano with the "practice pedal" = engaged.    </DIV> <DIV>        --David Nereson, RPT</DIV> <DIV>     </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>