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<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></BODY></HTML>