Interesting key repair

No list of ~Items Required to repair a broken key~ needs to include tin snips and sheet metal.

Letter from Yvonne Ashmore

Hi Mark,

We recently did a bushing job on some sort of Asian piano for Shawn Skylark. The piano must have been fairly new and the bushings weren't really worn, but previous technicians (not Shawn) had evidently overeased the keys. When we removed the bushings the real problem which was causing sluggish keys became apparent as shown by these pictures.

Thought you might be interested.

Yvonne

Bad pedal repair

An elastic band is not an acceptable replacement for a broken pedal spring!

This is a square grand in a Land Park home. It's one of the few I can remember in Sacramento that has been competently rebuilt. It looks really nice. 

Terry Miller's Finish Restoration

Terry Miller showed how to easily restore an old finish with a modern variant of tung oil. It applies easily with a rolled-up cloth and doesn't smell bad. We were amazed at the results.

Kitchen piano

These people designed their kitchen to have a space for the piano. 

Aren't you glad you're in the piano business?

 

If you add up all the cigarette burns I've seen in my whole life, they would still be less than I saw on this one piano. It used to be in a restaurant.

SuperTube

I am trying out the SuperTube lever. It works great on normal to tight pins but I have trouble using it to tune with pins that are on the loose side. The length is a bit much for those. I've always carried a second hammer, so that is no problem. Strut/case clearance is suprisingy good. This is the lever with a 5 degree head and the tip extension. I'm not too sure how I feel about the gold plating though...

A nailset with a plastic cap on each end is ~not~ an acceptable substitute for a pitman!

A poster for the University of Western Ontario piano technology program. 

In my other blog I commented on the "Auto Hitting Done" sticker inside Kohler & Campbell pianos, and how a wag might interpret that as meaning that someone was driving a car into pianos. I told that to Chris, the manager at Larrick Piano, and he told me about a real incident where someone went off the road and drove into a piano store. Read the article here.

Louisiana piano teacher sells piano

Shelley Smith, a former piano teacher who lives in Destrehan, La., recently posted an ad on Craigslist, selling her Baldwin piano "to replace our storage shed and fence." She's been playing piano for 32 years.

"Before Katrina, I would've said it would've been like losing a family member," Smith said. . "But now I have more things to be thankful for than a lot of people."

read the whole article...

This Ludwig upright has an unusual action without the standard backcheck, catcher, or bridle strap. (The bridle strap's function is taken by a rail --- not shown --- that the wippens rest on.) 

Mabel Chung visits Pearl River

Here are some pictures from my visit to the Pearl River factory in Guangzhou, China in July. I spent more time at the Grand production than the Uprights. I was surprised that most things were done by hand and very few machines and tools were used. Most factory workers make US$300 a month and office staff make less than the factory workers. Private tuning is US$15. A domestic helper (a maid) would cost about US$100 a month. All of the Senior technicians in the factory are young, mid 30's to early 40's. The older technicians are retired ,or can't stand the long hours and factory conditions. The factory is not fully air-conditioned and is very noisy. I saw few hearing protection. The "Tuning" (or a should say the Pitch Raise Person) person would tune for 8-10 hours a day, sometimes upto 18 pianos. (By the way, I was told the guy I saw was the best looking guy in the Tuning dept. and he is only 18 years old. I wondered if he would be deaf by 25 ???!!!) It is very hard to get a job in a well-known company like the Pearl River. No......I don't want to work there ...........

Brett and Susan Dearing hosted the meeting. There was way too much delicious food. 

Bill also brought papers from Roy Kehl, a noted expert. 

Bill brought books on piano history and a mortised-in pinblock to examine. 

You never forget your first sostenuto. 

Some of Bill's slides featured rare and beautiful patent drawings 

Tremaine's subwoofer threatened to shatter our ribcages. 

Bill Shull gave a fantastically detailed presentation on early Steinway grands, featuring video on a television and Powerpoint projected on the wall. 

Possibly the only spinet in the world with a dragon attached to the music desk.  

Are you missing a bench?

It's probably here.

What this is for

This is for me (your webmaster) to post pictures of chapter meetings, and anything else we might find interesting. I plan to make the blog available to anyone who wants to post. If you're interested in posting text or pictures, email me.