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An easy little quiz

  • 1.  An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 13:42
      |   view attached

    Based on the picture, what was I fixing this morning?

     

    Don Mannino



  • 2.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Posted 08-28-2014 13:51
    Flange cord replacement?

    Keith McGavern, RPT
    Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA
    kam544@allegiance.tv
    [Visual Tuning Platform User]
    [iRCT & OnlyPure ]



  • 3.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 13:56

    Hmmm, interesting!  No, Kawais don't often have that problem – we've always used silk cords. 

     

    This is something completely different.

     

    Don

     






  • 4.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 13:58

    On Thursday, August 28, 2014 12:56:10 PM Donald Mannino via Piano Technicians Guild wrote:


    > ... Based on the picture, what was I fixing this morning? ...


    damper oink... ?



    --

    Regards,


    Alan B. Crane, RPT

    School of Music

    Wichita State University

    alan.crane@wichita.edu






  • 5.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Posted 08-28-2014 14:28
    Let's narrow the field ... a non-Kawai brand?

    Keith McGavern, RPT
    Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA
    kam544@allegiance.tv
    [Visual Tuning Platform User]
    [iRCT & OnlyPure ]



  • 6.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 15:18
    Don

    I beg to differ with you. Here in Hawaii, the silk cords break , too. 

    -------------------------------------------
    Willem "Wim" Blees, RPT
    Mililani, HI 96789
    -------------------------------------------




  • 7.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 15:36
    So Wim, what does "don't often" mean to you? Relatively speaking, the silk cords last much longer than cotton, even over there.

    Don Mannino
    Using Windows Phone





  • 8.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 15:52
    Don

    I did see "don't often".  They do last longer, but it's still a big part of my business.

    -------------------------------------------
    Willem "Wim" Blees, RPT
    Mililani, HI 96789
    -------------------------------------------




  • 9.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Posted 08-28-2014 16:04
    Well, now this thread has gotten that out of the way.

    Letting us know that there are actually exceptions to the rule with what someone says.

    Keith McGavern, RPT
    Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA
    kam544@allegiance.tv
    [Visual Tuning Platform User]
    [iRCT & OnlyPure ]



  • 10.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Posted 08-28-2014 14:10
    A piano? ------------------------------------------- Ed Sutton Editor Piano Technicians Journal ed440@me.com 704-536-7926 -------------------------------------------


  • 11.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Posted 08-28-2014 14:19
    Good one, Ed. Levity at its best. Still laughing.

    Keith McGavern, RPT
    Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA
    kam544@allegiance.tv
    [Visual Tuning Platform User]
    [iRCT & OnlyPure ]



  • 12.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 14:20
    Trimming trichord dampers.

    -------------------------------------------
    Fred Sturm
    University of New Mexico
    http://fredsturm.net
    "When I smell a flower, I don't think about how it was cultivated. I like to listen to music the same way." -Federico Mompou
    -------------------------------------------




  • 13.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Posted 08-28-2014 14:30
    Very nice, Fred. I feel you've nailed it. Tri-chord remnants.

    Keith McGavern, RPT
    Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA
    kam544@allegiance.tv
    [Visual Tuning Platform User]
    [iRCT & OnlyPure ]



  • 14.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 14:58

    Yep, Trichord trimmings.  I even laid them out on the desk in their proper positions!

     

    And yes, it was a Kawai.  Brand new GX-5, nice piano, but some not so nicely seating dampers down in the tenor there.  All fixed now.

     

    Don Mannino

     






  • 15.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 15:09
    Don:

    I have questions.  Are those pieces from one damper, two dampers, or four dampers?  What about the rest of the trichord set; shouldn't they be trimmed as well?  Maybe you only showed us a few trimmings. Was there whooshing as the dampers came off the strings?  And what about Alan Crane's suggestion that a damper(s) probably oinked; maybe that's the same as saying the damping was poor.  Aren't they trimmed in the factory, or is this a case where someone wasn't careful putting in the temperament strip?  I knew what the picture was.  But what were the actual symptoms?

    Aren't we technicians good at turning a simple quiz into long report? 

    Richard West





  • 16.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 15:28

    Richard,

     

    This was a new piano that needed some trimming to help the felt seat properly in the tenor area (oinking cutoff, as one astute technician stated).  There were a lot of trimmings from this piano, since I wanted to make sure it was working nicely.  But I just saved the felt cut from one trichord damper head for the picture.

     

    Production pianos like this are cut to a spec and installed, and the trichord wedges are generally longer than needed.  Sometimes the function of the dampers will be improved if they are then trimmed and fitted more accurately.

     

    Shigeru piano trichord felts are all trimmed and rounded on the bottoms to fit the strings, and this results in much quieter lifting of the dampers.  But most people can't afford Shigeru pianos . . . .

     

    Maybe I should work up a new PTG seminar on trimming trichord felts!  I've thought about it before, but figured only 3 people would show up. J

     

    Don Mannino






  • 17.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 17:05
    I would be there...







  • 18.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 17:23

    On Thursday, August 28, 2014 04:05:02 PM Kent Swafford wrote:

    > I would be there...


    I'll be number two, Don. :)



    --

    Regards,


    Alan B. Crane, RPT

    School of Music

    Wichita State University

    alan.crane@wichita.edu






  • 19.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 17:26
    And Richard makes three.  Your class is full.

    Richard West





  • 20.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 20:39
    Since the class is full, maybe I could be your assistant -- fetch the wastebasket for the trimmings?

    I sometimes have rounded the bottom edges of the trichord felts when I thought the sharply cut corners might (or did) hang up. The very sharp barber's scissor were able to trim off the corners leaving nice little roundosities. (Which this stupid spell-check doesn't think is a word. But what could be more plain?)

    -------------------------------------------
    Susan Kline
    Philomath, Oregon

    -------------------------------------------




  • 21.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 21:17
    The right scissors are the key to the job. Without them, all the classes in the world won't help. Jurgen sells some nice ones from Germany. I tried a lot of different scissors that I found here and there, and none worked as well. Now the job is a snap.

    (I also picked up a couple pairs at a sidewalk fair in Trossingen, home of the Hohner factory. So I am set <G>. In Germany they are readily available, in the US hard to find.)

    -------------------------------------------
    Fred Sturm
    University of New Mexico
    http://fredsturm.net
    "When I smell a flower, I don't think about how it was cultivated. I like to listen to music the same way." -Federico Mompou
    -------------------------------------------




  • 22.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Posted 08-28-2014 21:33
    The serrated edge moustache scissors are wonderful and expensive.
    Fisherman's fly tying scissors can be found for a few dollars in a sporting goods store, and work very well, also.

    -------------------------------------------
    Ed Sutton
    Editor
    Piano Technicians Journal
    ed440@me.com
    704-536-7926
    -------------------------------------------




  • 23.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-29-2014 00:35
    I went to a salon supplier in town. The pair I bought had very small serrations on the blades (not readily visible, but they are there) that typically grabs on to hair to keep it from slipping out of blades. It grabs on to felt as well, and they work great.

    -------------------------------------------
    John Parham, RPT
    Hickory, NC
    828-244-2487
    johnparham@piano88.com
    -------------------------------------------




  • 24.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 08-28-2014 19:41
    Not quick enough I guess. Since the class is full I have to ask if you will doing more than one session?

    I had to trim some tri-chord felts once because of that brushing noise. I was encouraged by a tech support person to just let the damper rest on the strings naturally and then use a single edged razor blade to trim off everything that hung through the underside. Pretty easy and it did the trick. 

    -- G

    -------------------------------------------
    Geoff Sykes, RPT
    Los Angeles CA
    -------------------------------------------




  • 25.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Member
    Posted 08-29-2014 00:29

     I have some electronics cutters that work great for felt trimming. I also have some large scissors made by Cutco that awesome for cutting felt- they have not gotten dull after 10 years of use.
    -------------------------------------------
    James Kelly
    Pawleys Island SC
    843-325-4357
    -------------------------------------------




  • 26.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Posted 08-29-2014 05:50
    I've been quieting the tricord bass/tenor section dampers of a 1934 Wissner concert grand that some rebuilder installed before it got moved to Virginia. More trichord wound strings than any other I had ever seen that have extraordinary narrow spacing between them. I have made significant improvements but could use more "how to" knowledge than I possess on this one. Let me know when you will be teaching this. I will make it "Standing Room Only".

    -------------------------------------------
    Kevin Magill
    Williamsburg VA
    757-220-2420
    -------------------------------------------




  • 27.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 09-01-2014 10:00
    Loose tuning pin on a Baldwin Falconwood pinplank.

    Gerry





  • 28.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 09-01-2014 10:07
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
         What picture   ?????  --------  Jack Wyatt
         
        





  • 29.  RE: An easy little quiz

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 09-02-2014 03:26
    Baldwin never made or marketed Falconwood. Falconwood is materially different from the 41 maple plies that Baldwin had in their pinblock. It has 20% higher friction thus requiring a smaller hole which results in less stress on the wood.  There is no documented case of a Falconwood pinblock material failure. 

    Falconwood is still available from the RPTs at Great Lakes Piano Supply in Milwaukee.

    I just installed a Falconwood block in my son's project piano.