Brandon,
It appears that Rodger is the best one to advise you. All I can do is write four silly paragraphs , as usual.
I can't even find my tuning lever for square grands because I lost it on purpose after I tuned, and used unorthodox fixes, on a square Steinway. I wrote to Steinway NY for advise and I won't disclose what the reply was. The funny thing was the owner of the square had to borrow money from his huntsman to pay me for my two days work. I retreated through the open iron gates of the estate and vowed never to return. I must admit the square looked great in the parlor setting and the best thing that came out of this experience was that I did return because I was able to sell the hunt master a fast hunting dog, that I had rescued, and was living in a stall in my barn. His new accommodations at this horse estate looked much better and he would get to run and have quality meals better than I could afford for myself.
I remember hearing my first restored square piano at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. I might be wrong but I vaguely remember it was owned by Stephen Foster. I was there with two fraternity buddies who were piano performance majors. The demonstrating pianist sat down at the piano on display. We held our breath but when he began to play we burst out laughing. The guard in the room came and stood behind us. We stopped our laughing. It was the most pathetic un-piano like sound we had ever heard. Of course we were used to
modern pianos. I had never seen a square grand for sale at an antique shop or auction for more than $100.
I had permission to take anything out of an old 1830's abandoned house that had belonged to a horder. In it was a Steinway square piano. Sadly, all I could do was take pictures of it. I took some antique things from the piles of stuff on the floors, and things from the basement walk in fireplace but didn't even attempt to chip a few ivories off the piano. I begged the owner to save the fine exterior doors but he didn't. The next week the fire company burned the house down as a practice burn. I bet that piano made a spectacular crash as it fell through the floor into the stone basement.
Years later a member of my antique car club asked me to look at the square grand in his house he had bought for $25. The case was very nice looking. At my suggestion he removed the strings, filled the interior with sand, added a model of a stable, wise men and you know the rest. Every December he just tool the lid off and hung a star from the ceiling above the piano. Enough said....
Bob
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Robert Highfield
Lancaster PA -
farmhouseview@gmail.com -------------------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 11-24-2014 17:13
From: Roger Aycock
Subject: A.H. Gale square grand tuning pin shape
Brandon,
Don't get one of those tips and that will give you an "out" in case someone asks you to tune one! I have one in the shop for removing tuning pins during rebuilding, but I NEVER put it in my tool bag. Sometimes we never know what kind of piano the customer has until we walk up to it, so, if I am confronted with one of these, I can honestly say, I do no have a tip to fit those pins.
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Roger Aycock, RPT, TEC
Marietta, GA
rogerspiano@bellsouth.net
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-24-2014 13:28
From: Brandon Robertson
Subject: A.H. Gale square grand tuning pin shape
I do not. I've never tuned a square grand, but I'm guessing from your answer that I should get one just in case.
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Brandon Robertson
Gardendale AL
205-612-5544
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-24-2014 13:06
From: Willem Blees
Subject: A.H. Gale square grand tuning pin shape
It's not so much if it's a #1 or #2 tip, as it is if it's an oval tip. I presume you have one of those.
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Willem "Wim" Blees, RPT
Mililani, HI 96789
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-24-2014 12:01
From: Brandon Robertson
Subject: A.H. Gale square grand tuning pin shape
Can anyone here tell me whether an A.H Gale square grand has tuning pins that will work with a #1 or #2 tuning lever tip? If that's too broad a question, sorry...I don't have anything but a picture of the case to go on right now.
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Brandon Robertson
Gardendale AL
205-612-5544
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