Peter - Fair point, though we're stuck if we're ordering from Mapes or any other maker that hasn't yet marketed their own tape. I'd be curious to document the differences, if I can find my Heller and Arledge. More to the point would be from where the ...
Just remember that each maker has their own specific protocol for these things. Don't measure with a Hellerbass tape and order from Grandt, or vice versa. I learned that the hard way when I measured with an Arledge tape and ordered from Hellerbass (not ...
TYPO!!! My livestream is tomorrow (Thursay) at 8AM, not PM. It's in the morning. The Channel 88 presentation is at 8PM in the evening. *facepalm* ------------------------------ Maggie Jusiel, RPT Athens, WV (304)952-8615 mags@timandmaggie.net --- ...
I was a belleyman at Sohmer and have been installing soundboards since 1983. I also trained under a veteran Steinway Belleyman, Valentine Toussaint. My pinblock training was with Wally Brooks. Worked at Bechstein (1979) and Bosendorfer (1980) and ...
Before you get too far into this, can you (both) give some idea of your prior experience doing this level of rebuilding? Thomas, I'm having some difficulty reconciling the appearance of your work (good) with the questions you're asking. ------------------------------ ...
Bottom of rib planed or routed to match concave surface of crown board. If using go-bar deck for gluiing ribs best to start with 4/4 spruce then plane or route sb side of rib to match crown board. After gluing ribs to board plane ribs to height and finish ...
Thank you Gregor! I will do that! And thank you David, that is useful information! Best, Luke Sent from my iPad
Your OTHER other option is www.jdgrandt.com - (905) 773-0087 This one appears to measure from bottom-rear of the hitchpin. Your OTHER, OTHER other way is to respond to Gregor Heller's post, just now. ------------------------------ David Skolnik [RPT] ...
Hey Luke, Gregor from Hellerbass here ... our special tape measure tools are not sold out ... just send us a short email with your address to service@hellerbass.com . You'll get one free of charge ... Kind regards Gregor ------------------------------ ...
Hi All, I'm trying to get my hands on a bass string measuring tape. It seems the Hellerbass version is sold out and Arledge is not currently doing business since they're selling the business. Are there any other suppliers selling these? My other ...
Reminder: aural tuning Q&A livestream this Thursday at 8PM EST on YouTube! Livestream playlist: https://www.youtube.com/@PianoTechMaggie/streams ------------------------------ Maggie Jusiel, RPT Athens, WV (304)952-8615 mags@timandmaggie.net ...
Chinese criminals operate many of these. Best not to respond and mark as spam. ------------------------------ Parker Leigh RPT Winchester VA (540) 722-3865 ------------------------------
I have heard back from Dampp-Chaser, and they do have a recommended temperature range for the Piano Lifesaver System. They said that ideally the temperature should be between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. ------------------------------ Peter Stevenson ...
Hello folks Yesterday I got an email from what looked like a law office saying that they were representing someone who wanted to trademark my business name. The email had "securemarksattorney.com" which is very similar to the site securemarkattorneys.com, ...
Hello fellow-techs. When rebuilding a piano and making pre-crowned ribs: which practice is more common or a better choice, making the height match across the rib, making its bottom side crowned to match the top glue surface - or, making the bottom of ...
Thanks, Floyd, that's helpful. In this particular case, I generally have 5-8 hours to work on the piano for the beginning-of-season prep, so having them turn on the heat in the morning generally wouldn't be a problem, as I can do the regulation and perhaps ...
A significant change in room temperature during the course of a tuning undoes your work as you proceed. If I walk into a venue and am told that the room was cold, but the heat was turned on 30 minutes ago, that is grounds for rescheduling the tuning. ...
Apart from any other issue, this clip might illuminate the source of the dag/dog conundrum: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3wmrOdqIfZk Snatch - 2000 - Guy Ritchie ------------------------------ David Skolnik [RPT] Hastings-on-Hudson NY (917) 589-2625 ...
Blaine Hebert's post rescued me from the mire I had submerged into trying to respond to Daniel D's excellent response. He brings us 'full-circle' with " How often do we insert a thin dowel through the strings to contact the back rail and check for ...
I like the term dangerous here as it seems that this is a difficult feature to measure and adjust and it could potentially be a source of a hard-to-find problem, like a knock, squeak or loss of power. Removing a front rail knock by sanding away all places ...
Well, if a piano gets mad, it can quickly turn on you and attack, and this becomes more likely the deeper in the action cavity you are working. Seriously, though, this is dangerous in the sense that it can create a difficult to diagnose, major problem. ...
Hi Richard, With a Steinway, the keyframe is fit to the dag blocks in manufacturing and is not generally considered serviceable as both surfaces are fixed and any adjustment will involve some amount of woodworking. While the front rail and balance rail ...
Why is contact at this point any more dangerous than the contact (and its friction) along the entire keyframe/keybed? or keyblock plate and end pins? And, for that matter, why dangerous ? It's just one more thing we have to learn to do carefully. ...
spell checker :) ------------------------------ Peter Acronico RPT San Jose CA (408) 838-2559 ------------------------------
Daniel: How much attention should be given to bedding the back rail? And what is the most efficient way of doing that? Do the dags play any role? Richard West
The official name for the Steinway part is "keyframe hold down dag block". That's a mouthful so we simply call them "dags". (You'll never hear someone from Steinway call them dogs which implies a holdfast. An action with an una corda function should never ...
I have just figured out how to make my iPhone(s) communicate with my Linux Mint laptop, and I found it gives me more flexibility than I imagined. I'm using the libimobiledevice toolkit, and when my iPhone is connected to my computer with a cable, I ...
This is more in line with what I was thinking, though since it's summer, I thought I could be a little bit tighter. Have you had experience installing these? ------------------------------ Tom Dowell Hulbert Piano tom@hulbertpiano.com 262-221-0792 ...
Interesting. That would explain the rounded portion of the dag, to reduce contact area. I suppose that would need slight taper/wedge shape as well, to guide it home? Still, seems dangerous to have moving parts that actually touch like that, especially ...
I don't remember which 'old' Steinway tech explained this to me (and some other - less old) Steinway tech may disagree, but the positive 'capture' of the back rail serves to stabilize the action bedding to, among other things, prevent a 'knock' that ...
Peter, I thought the same about the dags, L screws under trap levers and the "shipping rail." That last item has an alias: key upstop rail. That name suggests a function that has to do with how the keys work. Alex Kerstan, formerly of Steingraeber, ...
I was under the impression that the ONLY reason for these restraints was for moving purposes. Same as for the "key up-stop rail", and the L shaped thing-a-ma-gig under the trap work. Peter Grey Piano Doctor ------------------------------ Peter ...
The tags should apply "slight" pressure on the back of the key frame. This needs to happen in order for the key frame to be bedded properly. Take a look at the spots where the key frame is graphited, and you will see burnishing if the key frame has been ...
.5 mm more realistic. Need to allow for wood movement. Main purpose of dag is to secure key frame during transport. ------------------------------ Parker Leigh RPT Winchester VA (540) 722-3865 ------------------------------
Hello all, Thanks for the clear explanation, Ed. What you are describing matches my theory of what is going on. For the record, this piano does have a back cover, and I was tuning it with the kneeboard off, and there were no hot spotlights. The only ...
You mentioned that it is in a theatre. Perhaps the piano was on stage, with traditional incandescent stage lighting turned on? Though I think heating would have the opposite effect. Most pianos are in smaller spaces, with rooms maintaining a higher ...
How were the unisons? If they were anything other than wildly out of tune, I'd say there's an oversight happening, and it was just tuned low. It having dropped uniformly makes this sound more likely. I've been dealing with pianos going through huge humidity ...
Peter- To be clear, I believe the problem you're having is caused by the change of temperature changing the tension and thus the pitch of the piano wires, and that the ones closer to the heating rod are more quickly effected than those further away. ...
I will be installing dags/dogs/keyboard-holdy-downy things on a Steinway L. Does anyone know of a reference to how much clearance there should be for those blocks? My initial thought was maybe +.006" (two pieces of paper), but I wanted to check if anyone ...
I wonder if having an "undercover" on the rear of the console piano would help? I am having good success with undercovers installed on grand pianos here in eastern Tennessee. My churches that have PLS systems, but no undercover were experiencing humidity ...
Thanks for the responses, everyone. I am inclined to agree with Ed on this one. I sold this system with the promise that it would help tuning stability. Bill Clayton's procedure seems like it would be the most effective, but would mess up my workflow. ...
I'm looking at a 1981 52" with the grand music desk for a client. From the pictures it looks in nice shape. Does anyone know of any specific problems these might have?
... very cool 😄 ... thank you for the link 👍 ------------------------------ Gregor Heller Hellerbass Strings Eschelbronn 49-6226-42444 ------------------------------ ...
I have never unplugged a dampp chaser while tuning and only do it when servicing it such as changing out pads, putting in new liners, cleaning the low water sensor and smart heater bar. The humidity level will turn the heat on and off . Perhaps the bar ...
I could have been so much wealthier if I only knew. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33296751/&ved=2ahUKEwiT7LTShs2UAxUZ38kDHR70LGgQFnoECGoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0Cgqy67zCGkVOQBzHnBhly ------------------------------ ...
Bill Clayton, RPT in Charlotte NC had to maintain several vertical pianos with DampChaser systems in cold churches. He dealt with the problem by covering the piano with two plastic drop cloths, manipulating them to prevent the escape of warm air from ...
Peter, I know of no empirical research, but yes, you are onto something regarding opening the piano up, especially if the room temp is that low. It would be interesting to know how much the temperature around the strings changes in different states of ...
I always check the plate bolt or screws after a move. If they were slightly loose before the move, you can bet the plate shifted ever so slightly. Up here in the dry country air of the mountains, I've cured many noises and strange tuning shifts by checking ...
IDM. Unplug it, tune it, plug it back in. It will change the tuning as it cycles off and on. Tuners are not responsible for the poor choices piano owners make in the piano's environment. ------------------------------ Larry Messerly, RPT Bringing Harmony ...
Ah, I recommend 50-55% Rh% which is the metric used with customers. Not emc. Mr. Goldschlager distracted me for a moment and i misread the Rh- emc chart. -chris ------------------------------ Chernobieff Piano Restorations chrisppff@gmail.com Youtube@chernobieffpiano ...