Hi,
I have a request and then a rant. Does anyone have a couple of the leg screws pictured that they can spare? I guess I will have to go to the hardware store to try to find something that will work but I hate mixing things up. It is a very unusual part that I won't find at the store. See photo. Do any of you have a derelict 1970's Howard (made by Kawai) that is parted out?
I visited a new customer yesterday. They were gifted a beat up but very decent little Howard. Whenever someone tells me that the grand piano was just moved I instinctually check the legs to make sure they are on correctly and tight. First screw I touched was barely finger tight, next three not even that. The third leg, however, had no screws whatsoever holding it on. These legs do not have locking cams, just two large screws that bolt the leg to the piano. There were none. If these good people had tried to move and reposition this grand in any way, it would have immediately fallen. Since it was the third, tail end leg, they lyre wouldn't have helped. It would have gone down hard.
I borrowed a screw from one of the front legs so the leg is being held in place at least. I begged them not to move it until we fix this. The "piano mover" that they used is someone I had never heard of. They told me he is a "touring musician" that moves pianos on the side. I would love to call this cat up and ask him to concentrate on his music and never move another piano.
If I had not found this problem, I could have been drawn into a liability situation should something have happened. I spent the entire tuning visualizing just how bad this could have ended up. I'm still pretty upset.
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Christopher Purdy, RPT
School of Music, Ohio University
Athens, OH . 45701
purdy@ohio.edu(740) 590-3842
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