Pianotech

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Original Message------

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Hey Susan. It may have taken a hundred years or so, but it finally found its meaning!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:16
From: Susan Kline
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I'm very impressed, Terry. You found a genuine use for a Starr upright! And here all I thought one could do was serve as a horrible example.

Original Message------

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Original Message------

Hey Susan. It may have taken a hundred years or so, but it finally found its meaning!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

I worked on a Starr full sized upright years ago. The piano was a real beast and belonged to the Assistant Principal at my daughter's high school. Extremely loose tuning pin torque and I needed to treat the block with CA. I explained I needed to tip the piano on its back so he said he would get the high school football team to help me. While he was gone I went to my van got my tilter and my webbed ratchet straps, protected the floor and put that bad boy on its back. By the time he returned I had already started with the CA glue. He was impressed and asked me how I could do it by myself. It was actually fun to explain to a high school assistant principal how the tilter worked and the physics involved. He called the coach and cancelled the football team. The piano had a very cool honky tonk strip that his wife recalled that her aunt always played with it on.

------------------------------
James Kelly
Owner- Fur Elise Piano Service
Pawleys Island SC
843-325-4357
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:21
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Hey Susan. It may have taken a hundred years or so, but it finally found its meaning!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:16
From: Susan Kline
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I'm very impressed, Terry. You found a genuine use for a Starr upright! And here all I thought one could do was serve as a horrible example.

Original Message------

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

My poor old Starr upright. I bought that piano when I started taking the Randy Potter course. I tried tuning it time and time again and it never sounded like my books suggested it should sound like - beats never worked out at all - octaves would be all over the place. I figured I just needed more practice. After months of that I got frustrated and finally figured I was ready to tune our real piano - our near-new Steinway 1098 (THAT's a WHOLE 'nuther story - and a sad one, indeed). Tuned the little 1098 over the course of two days and about 10 hours total. Darn thing sounded great! I knew how to tune a piano!!! Darn Starr never did tune up right. Never did figure out what the heck was wrong with that thing. Never really have run across a piano that seemed to drift like that Starr. I have no reason to believe other Starrs would be that way - I guess it was just that one piano - maybe a cracked plate that I never saw or sump tin'.  :-(

But BOY OH BOY, it sure came into its own as a counter weight for a bat house!!!!!!!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:55
From: James Kelly
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I worked on a Starr full sized upright years ago. The piano was a real beast and belonged to the Assistant Principal at my daughter's high school. Extremely loose tuning pin torque and I needed to treat the block with CA. I explained I needed to tip the piano on its back so he said he would get the high school football team to help me. While he was gone I went to my van got my tilter and my webbed ratchet straps, protected the floor and put that bad boy on its back. By the time he returned I had already started with the CA glue. He was impressed and asked me how I could do it by myself. It was actually fun to explain to a high school assistant principal how the tilter worked and the physics involved. He called the coach and cancelled the football team. The piano had a very cool honky tonk strip that his wife recalled that her aunt always played with it on.

------------------------------
James Kelly
Owner- Fur Elise Piano Service
Pawleys Island SC
843-325-4357

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:21
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Hey Susan. It may have taken a hundred years or so, but it finally found its meaning!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:16
From: Susan Kline
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I'm very impressed, Terry. You found a genuine use for a Starr upright! And here all I thought one could do was serve as a horrible example.

Original Message------

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Re: What I did during the pandemic.

I finished a project that I've been working on for a couple of years. I'm calling it a siren drone. Four very small 12v DC sirens in a housing, with optional tremolo, incased in a larger cabinet and then out through 48 brass tubes. If the tubes look familiar you might have seen sets with speakers in them as part of the Conn church organs of the 60's. I made a control panel to control the speed/pitch of each siren and the tremolo. There's also an internal mic and a speaker for feeding additional sounds into it.
How does it sound? Well, it sounds like one might expect, perhaps a cross between a choir of piglets and a dentist's drill lol. There is quite a bit of phasing going on that's quite interesting to people like us anyway. And it's fun to play with the harmonies. If I get a musical recording out of it I'll let it be known. The instruments range is pretty much the top half of the keyboard so the overtones are pretty high, it would be better if the whole thing would be dropped down an octave or two but that's easier said than done.
Why? One might ask. I can't say except that I design and build musical instruments and I've always been fascinated with sirens and glissandi. I've always made acoustical instruments before but am moving towards electro-acoustical instruments now. 
Anyways:

------------------------------
Steven Rosenthal
Honolulu HI
808-521-7129
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 17:57
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

My poor old Starr upright. I bought that piano when I started taking the Randy Potter course. I tried tuning it time and time again and it never sounded like my books suggested it should sound like - beats never worked out at all - octaves would be all over the place. I figured I just needed more practice. After months of that I got frustrated and finally figured I was ready to tune our real piano - our near-new Steinway 1098 (THAT's a WHOLE 'nuther story - and a sad one, indeed). Tuned the little 1098 over the course of two days and about 10 hours total. Darn thing sounded great! I knew how to tune a piano!!! Darn Starr never did tune up right. Never did figure out what the heck was wrong with that thing. Never really have run across a piano that seemed to drift like that Starr. I have no reason to believe other Starrs would be that way - I guess it was just that one piano - maybe a cracked plate that I never saw or sump tin'.  :-(

But BOY OH BOY, it sure came into its own as a counter weight for a bat house!!!!!!!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:55
From: James Kelly
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I worked on a Starr full sized upright years ago. The piano was a real beast and belonged to the Assistant Principal at my daughter's high school. Extremely loose tuning pin torque and I needed to treat the block with CA. I explained I needed to tip the piano on its back so he said he would get the high school football team to help me. While he was gone I went to my van got my tilter and my webbed ratchet straps, protected the floor and put that bad boy on its back. By the time he returned I had already started with the CA glue. He was impressed and asked me how I could do it by myself. It was actually fun to explain to a high school assistant principal how the tilter worked and the physics involved. He called the coach and cancelled the football team. The piano had a very cool honky tonk strip that his wife recalled that her aunt always played with it on.

------------------------------
James Kelly
Owner- Fur Elise Piano Service
Pawleys Island SC
843-325-4357

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:21
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Hey Susan. It may have taken a hundred years or so, but it finally found its meaning!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:16
From: Susan Kline
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I'm very impressed, Terry. You found a genuine use for a Starr upright! And here all I thought one could do was serve as a horrible example.

Original Message------

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Steve R. - Why not? Hey, it's way more productive that smoking' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 00:35
From: Steven Rosenthal
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Re: What I did during the pandemic.

I finished a project that I've been working on for a couple of years. I'm calling it a siren drone. Four very small 12v DC sirens in a housing, with optional tremolo, incased in a larger cabinet and then out through 48 brass tubes. If the tubes look familiar you might have seen sets with speakers in them as part of the Conn church organs of the 60's. I made a control panel to control the speed/pitch of each siren and the tremolo. There's also an internal mic and a speaker for feeding additional sounds into it.
How does it sound? Well, it sounds like one might expect, perhaps a cross between a choir of piglets and a dentist's drill lol. There is quite a bit of phasing going on that's quite interesting to people like us anyway. And it's fun to play with the harmonies. If I get a musical recording out of it I'll let it be known. The instruments range is pretty much the top half of the keyboard so the overtones are pretty high, it would be better if the whole thing would be dropped down an octave or two but that's easier said than done.
Why? One might ask. I can't say except that I design and build musical instruments and I've always been fascinated with sirens and glissandi. I've always made acoustical instruments before but am moving towards electro-acoustical instruments now.
Anyways:

------------------------------
Steven Rosenthal
Honolulu HI
808-521-7129

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 17:57
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

My poor old Starr upright. I bought that piano when I started taking the Randy Potter course. I tried tuning it time and time again and it never sounded like my books suggested it should sound like - beats never worked out at all - octaves would be all over the place. I figured I just needed more practice. After months of that I got frustrated and finally figured I was ready to tune our real piano - our near-new Steinway 1098 (THAT's a WHOLE 'nuther story - and a sad one, indeed). Tuned the little 1098 over the course of two days and about 10 hours total. Darn thing sounded great! I knew how to tune a piano!!! Darn Starr never did tune up right. Never did figure out what the heck was wrong with that thing. Never really have run across a piano that seemed to drift like that Starr. I have no reason to believe other Starrs would be that way - I guess it was just that one piano - maybe a cracked plate that I never saw or sump tin'.  :-(

But BOY OH BOY, it sure came into its own as a counter weight for a bat house!!!!!!!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:55
From: James Kelly
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I worked on a Starr full sized upright years ago. The piano was a real beast and belonged to the Assistant Principal at my daughter's high school. Extremely loose tuning pin torque and I needed to treat the block with CA. I explained I needed to tip the piano on its back so he said he would get the high school football team to help me. While he was gone I went to my van got my tilter and my webbed ratchet straps, protected the floor and put that bad boy on its back. By the time he returned I had already started with the CA glue. He was impressed and asked me how I could do it by myself. It was actually fun to explain to a high school assistant principal how the tilter worked and the physics involved. He called the coach and cancelled the football team. The piano had a very cool honky tonk strip that his wife recalled that her aunt always played with it on.

------------------------------
James Kelly
Owner- Fur Elise Piano Service
Pawleys Island SC
843-325-4357

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:21
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Hey Susan. It may have taken a hundred years or so, but it finally found its meaning!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:16
From: Susan Kline
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I'm very impressed, Terry. You found a genuine use for a Starr upright! And here all I thought one could do was serve as a horrible example.

Original Message------

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Learning some flat picking bluegrass tunes.

------------------------------
David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:03
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Original Message------

Learning some flat picking bluegrass tunes.

------------------------------
David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320
------------------------------

Too late, working on some claw hammer tunes as well.

------------------------------
David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 01:23
From: Mark Schecter
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Careful, Dave, that way lies banjo ...

Mark Schecter

 | |   | | |   | |   | | | 

Original Message------

Learning some flat picking bluegrass tunes.

------------------------------
David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320
------------------------------

Tons of stuff...working on learning Italian, my perennial garden is astoundingly under control (I know just an illusion), and have managed to get over a technical limitation my singing (tenor) has been thwarted by for years...yes...you can teach an old dog new tricks!  Also am in the design phase of a Japanese garden gate I've been wanting to build for years.

------------------------------
Jim Ialeggio
grandpianosolutions.com
Shirley, MA
978 425-9026
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 01:37
From: David Love
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Too late, working on some claw hammer tunes as well.

------------------------------
David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 01:23
From: Mark Schecter
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Careful, Dave, that way lies banjo ...

Mark Schecter

 | |   | | |   | |   | | | 

Original Message------

Learning some flat picking bluegrass tunes.

------------------------------
David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320
------------------------------

Original Message------

Tons of stuff...working on learning Italian, my perennial garden is astoundingly under control (I know just an illusion), and have managed to get over a technical limitation my singing (tenor) has been thwarted by for years...yes...you can teach an old dog new tricks!  Also am in the design phase of a Japanese garden gate I've been wanting to build for years.

------------------------------
Jim Ialeggio
grandpianosolutions.com
Shirley, MA
978 425-9026
------------------------------

David L - very, very cool - and WAY, way better than smoking' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 01:12
From: David Love
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Learning some flat picking bluegrass tunes.

------------------------------
David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:03
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:03
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

Hey Nick, I'll meet your banana cake and raise you two crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves!



------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 15:36
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Per the theme of this thread's heading, I am cooking a banana cake with walnuts inside and on top. In fact it just came out of the oven. Looks and smells great (see photo). Love to have you all over for cake and coffee! No piano talk (well, that's asking too much).

Nick G

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

Original Message------

Hey Nick, I'll meet your banana cake and raise you two crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Nicolas, new site looks good. I like that you publish prices. Gets rid of price shoppers.

------------------------------
Larry Messerly, RPT
Bringing Harmony to Homes
www.lacrossepianotuning.com
ljmesserly@gmail.com
928-899-7292
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-15-2020 16:49
From: Nicolas Lessard
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Hi all,

I also have been improving my sourdough baking skills, I worked on a potential Journal article based on my visit at David Stocker's Fir Tree Piano, Olympia, WA on March 7-8. Man that was different times.

Oh, and I had fun learning how to build a website on Squarespace, would you let me know what you think of it?

https://www.accordpianomontreal.com/

Our old one is on Wordpress and look rather like that: https://pianotechniquemontreal.com/

Cheers,

Nicolas Lessard, RPT

    cell 514 574-3308

   

Original Message------

Hey Nick, I'll meet your banana cake and raise you two crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

This thread is delicious! Terry, I've never mastered that beautiful slash technique for my sourdough. What's your secret?

------------------------------
Ruth Zeiner
ruth@alliedpiano.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 16:37
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Hey Nick, I'll meet your banana cake and raise you two crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 15:36
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Per the theme of this thread's heading, I am cooking a banana cake with walnuts inside and on top. In fact it just came out of the oven. Looks and smells great (see photo). Love to have you all over for cake and coffee! No piano talk (well, that's asking too much).

Nick G

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

Ruth Z. asked about my beautiful slash technique. Maybe I've been binge-watching Criminal Minds and Law & Order SVU too much lately, but please, Ruth, tell me you are not a serial killer!!!

No real secret. After the final rise I set the dough on the counter and slice the surface with a long sharp knife. Then I put the dough in my cast iron dutch ovens and into the oven......

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-17-2020 10:36
From: Ruth Zeiner
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

This thread is delicious! Terry, I've never mastered that beautiful slash technique for my sourdough. What's your secret?

------------------------------
Ruth Zeiner
ruth@alliedpiano.com

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 16:37
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Hey Nick, I'll meet your banana cake and raise you two crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 15:36
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Per the theme of this thread's heading, I am cooking a banana cake with walnuts inside and on top. In fact it just came out of the oven. Looks and smells great (see photo). Love to have you all over for cake and coffee! No piano talk (well, that's asking too much).

Nick G

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

Original Message------

Ruth Z. asked about my beautiful slash technique. Maybe I've been binge-watching Criminal Minds and Law & Order SVU too much lately, but please, Ruth, tell me you are not a serial killer!!!

No real secret. After the final rise I set the dough on the counter and slice the surface with a long sharp knife. Then I put the dough in my cast iron dutch ovens and into the oven......

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Ha, Terry! You're really ringing my bells. Your crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves are my  absolute favorite! If you really have a recipe let me know privately (or publicly considering how the use of this list has temporarily adjusted to meet the times).

Nick

------------------------------
Nick Gravagne, RPT
Mechanical Engineering
Nick Gravagne Products
Strawberry, AZ 85544
gravagnegang@att.net
928-476-4143
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 15:36
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Per the theme of this thread's heading, I am cooking a banana cake with walnuts inside and on top. In fact it just came out of the oven. Looks and smells great (see photo). Love to have you all over for cake and coffee! No piano talk (well, that's asking too much).

Nick G

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

I've made a few more of my prototype of The Balance Hole Reaming/Easing Guide and sent them to a few techs to sample.
Getting a lot of yard work done.

------------------------------
Regards,

Jon Page
mailto:jonpage@comcast.net
http://www.pianocapecod.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 17:20
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Ha, Terry! You're really ringing my bells. Your crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves are my  absolute favorite! If you really have a recipe let me know privately (or publicly considering how the use of this list has temporarily adjusted to meet the times).

Nick

------------------------------
Nick Gravagne, RPT
Mechanical Engineering
Nick Gravagne Products
Strawberry, AZ 85544
gravagnegang@att.net
928-476-4143

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 15:36
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Per the theme of this thread's heading, I am cooking a banana cake with walnuts inside and on top. In fact it just came out of the oven. Looks and smells great (see photo). Love to have you all over for cake and coffee! No piano talk (well, that's asking too much).

Nick G

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

Getting to know our new dog. Canine/human neuro-entrainment is a real joy.
Making progress in my 5 year project to design a new kind of harpsichord. The latest prototype is playable and I can hear the customers banging on the door.

------------------------------
Ed Sutton
ed440@me.com
(980) 254-7413
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 20:55
From: Jon Page
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I've made a few more of my prototype of The Balance Hole Reaming/Easing Guide and sent them to a few techs to sample.
Getting a lot of yard work done.

------------------------------
Regards,

Jon Page
mailto:jonpage@comcast.net
http://www.pianocapecod.com

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 17:20
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Ha, Terry! You're really ringing my bells. Your crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves are my  absolute favorite! If you really have a recipe let me know privately (or publicly considering how the use of this list has temporarily adjusted to meet the times).

Nick

------------------------------
Nick Gravagne, RPT
Mechanical Engineering
Nick Gravagne Products
Strawberry, AZ 85544
gravagnegang@att.net
928-476-4143

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 15:36
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Per the theme of this thread's heading, I am cooking a banana cake with walnuts inside and on top. In fact it just came out of the oven. Looks and smells great (see photo). Love to have you all over for cake and coffee! No piano talk (well, that's asking too much).

Nick G

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

Here are pictures.



------------------------------
Ed Sutton
ed440@me.com
(980) 254-7413
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 21:23
From: Ed Sutton
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Getting to know our new dog. Canine/human neuro-entrainment is a real joy.
Making progress in my 5 year project to design a new kind of harpsichord. The latest prototype is playable and I can hear the customers banging on the door.

------------------------------
Ed Sutton
ed440@me.com
(980) 254-7413

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 20:55
From: Jon Page
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I've made a few more of my prototype of The Balance Hole Reaming/Easing Guide and sent them to a few techs to sample.
Getting a lot of yard work done.

------------------------------
Regards,

Jon Page
mailto:jonpage@comcast.net
http://www.pianocapecod.com

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 17:20
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Ha, Terry! You're really ringing my bells. Your crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves are my  absolute favorite! If you really have a recipe let me know privately (or publicly considering how the use of this list has temporarily adjusted to meet the times).

Nick

------------------------------
Nick Gravagne, RPT
Mechanical Engineering
Nick Gravagne Products
Strawberry, AZ 85544
gravagnegang@att.net
928-476-4143

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 15:36
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Per the theme of this thread's heading, I am cooking a banana cake with walnuts inside and on top. In fact it just came out of the oven. Looks and smells great (see photo). Love to have you all over for cake and coffee! No piano talk (well, that's asking too much).

Nick G

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

Ed, that is very cool.
Does the wall act as a soundboard?

------------------------------
Steven Rosenthal
Honolulu HI
808-521-7129
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 22:03
From: Ed Sutton
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Here are pictures.

------------------------------
Ed Sutton
ed440@me.com
(980) 254-7413

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 21:23
From: Ed Sutton
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Getting to know our new dog. Canine/human neuro-entrainment is a real joy.
Making progress in my 5 year project to design a new kind of harpsichord. The latest prototype is playable and I can hear the customers banging on the door.

------------------------------
Ed Sutton
ed440@me.com
(980) 254-7413

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 20:55
From: Jon Page
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I've made a few more of my prototype of The Balance Hole Reaming/Easing Guide and sent them to a few techs to sample.
Getting a lot of yard work done.

------------------------------
Regards,

Jon Page
mailto:jonpage@comcast.net
http://www.pianocapecod.com

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 17:20
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Ha, Terry! You're really ringing my bells. Your crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves are my  absolute favorite! If you really have a recipe let me know privately (or publicly considering how the use of this list has temporarily adjusted to meet the times).

Nick

------------------------------
Nick Gravagne, RPT
Mechanical Engineering
Nick Gravagne Products
Strawberry, AZ 85544
gravagnegang@att.net
928-476-4143

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 15:36
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Per the theme of this thread's heading, I am cooking a banana cake with walnuts inside and on top. In fact it just came out of the oven. Looks and smells great (see photo). Love to have you all over for cake and coffee! No piano talk (well, that's asking too much).

Nick G

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

The soundboard is below, behind the action. It's a "harp"sichord.
This is approximately prototype #3 with action #5​​.
I've started on #4 which will have a full length scale for brass and iron wire and action #6.​​

------------------------------
Ed Sutton
ed440@me.com
(980) 254-7413
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 22:58
From: Steven Rosenthal
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Ed, that is very cool.
Does the wall act as a soundboard?

------------------------------
Steven Rosenthal
Honolulu HI
808-521-7129

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 22:03
From: Ed Sutton
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Here are pictures.

------------------------------
Ed Sutton
ed440@me.com
(980) 254-7413

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 21:23
From: Ed Sutton
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Getting to know our new dog. Canine/human neuro-entrainment is a real joy.
Making progress in my 5 year project to design a new kind of harpsichord. The latest prototype is playable and I can hear the customers banging on the door.

------------------------------
Ed Sutton
ed440@me.com
(980) 254-7413

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 20:55
From: Jon Page
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

I've made a few more of my prototype of The Balance Hole Reaming/Easing Guide and sent them to a few techs to sample.
Getting a lot of yard work done.

------------------------------
Regards,

Jon Page
mailto:jonpage@comcast.net
http://www.pianocapecod.com

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 17:20
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Ha, Terry! You're really ringing my bells. Your crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves are my  absolute favorite! If you really have a recipe let me know privately (or publicly considering how the use of this list has temporarily adjusted to meet the times).

Nick

------------------------------
Nick Gravagne, RPT
Mechanical Engineering
Nick Gravagne Products
Strawberry, AZ 85544
gravagnegang@att.net
928-476-4143

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 15:36
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Per the theme of this thread's heading, I am cooking a banana cake with walnuts inside and on top. In fact it just came out of the oven. Looks and smells great (see photo). Love to have you all over for cake and coffee! No piano talk (well, that's asking too much).

Nick G

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

Hi Nick. I just emailed your recipe, instructions, links, etc. for making my sourdough. Didn't want to bore folks with all the details. If anyone wants a copy of all my sourdough info, email me privately and I'll be sure to send it to you. Enjoy!

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 17:20
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Ha, Terry! You're really ringing my bells. Your crispy-on-the-outside-and-gooey-on-the-inside sourdough loaves are my  absolute favorite! If you really have a recipe let me know privately (or publicly considering how the use of this list has temporarily adjusted to meet the times).

Nick

------------------------------
Nick Gravagne, RPT
Mechanical Engineering
Nick Gravagne Products
Strawberry, AZ 85544
gravagnegang@att.net
928-476-4143

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 15:36
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Per the theme of this thread's heading, I am cooking a banana cake with walnuts inside and on top. In fact it just came out of the oven. Looks and smells great (see photo). Love to have you all over for cake and coffee! No piano talk (well, that's asking too much).

Nick G

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

Be careful Nick. 

------------------------------
David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-14-2020 15:36
From: Nicholas Gravagne
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Per the theme of this thread's heading, I am cooking a banana cake with walnuts inside and on top. In fact it just came out of the oven. Looks and smells great (see photo). Love to have you all over for cake and coffee! No piano talk (well, that's asking too much).

Nick G

Original Message------

I rebuilt an 1870 Taylor and Farley Melodeon reed organ, and I put some outdoor ceiling fans on my back deck to keep the 'skeeters away. Cleaning out the garage is next.


.

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

Original Message------

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

Fuhgetabout the bread and cakes. I made the best Shrimp and Grits last night. The recipe was a rather straightforward Charleston Style Shrimp and Grits off the internet. I did not use the bacon and sausage it called for nor some of the colorful peppers but the real secret was half and half cream, butter, genuine yellow corn grits and a lb of fresh, deveined and shelled South Carolina grits. If you want to do the job right you need fresh shrimp and South Carolina shrimp is THE BEST. None of this stuff imported, flash frozen or otherwise preserved . Four adults feasted on the dish. This coming week I will be doing more but adding peppers, bacon and sausage. So y'all can eat bread- Im going for the grits...

------------------------------
James Kelly
Owner- Fur Elise Piano Service
Pawleys Island SC
843-325-4357
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:03
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
------------------------------

I sure wish I could cook like some of you guys, but fortunately my wife Marty is a great cook.

During April we had a couple keyset builds delayed (techs in colleges couldn't get to the locked down pianos to ship us the keysets).  So instead my son Aaron and I did a complete custom kitchen cabinet build job. All the cabinets in the pictures are custom made in our shop of solid cherry and cabinet grade plywood. Finger joint solid maple drawers, mortise and tenon cabinet doors. The customer wanted dark cherry outside and all clear maple inside. It was a nice look. The kitchen had 6" space just to the right of the fridge so I designed and built a pull out broom closet in that space. 

In April we never had to close down our woodworking/keyset building shop since it's a such a small family shop. We simply put a "closed to the public sign" on the window and locked the font door. And sent all UPS and Fedex shipments to the house.

Strangely enough, in our Reyburn Pianoworks shop, we're busier than we've been in quite a while building keysets.  Two of the jobs coming up need complete new keyframes and stacks (an 1868 Chickering concert grand and a 190x Mason & Hamlin), which takes quite a bit of time. The other keyset builds are more normal Steinways and include a keyframe rebuild with a new balance rail and inlayed front rail.

Hope everyone else is busy as bees soon.

Best regards,

-Dean Reyburn, RPT

------------------------------
Dean Reyburn, RPT
Reyburn Pianoworks
Reyburn CyberTuner
1-616-498-9854
dean@reyburn.com
www.reyburnpianoworks.com
www.cybertuner.com 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/dean.reyburn
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-15-2020 21:48
From: James Kelly
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Fuhgetabout the bread and cakes. I made the best Shrimp and Grits last night. The recipe was a rather straightforward Charleston Style Shrimp and Grits off the internet. I did not use the bacon and sausage it called for nor some of the colorful peppers but the real secret was half and half cream, butter, genuine yellow corn grits and a lb of fresh, deveined and shelled South Carolina grits. If you want to do the job right you need fresh shrimp and South Carolina shrimp is THE BEST. None of this stuff imported, flash frozen or otherwise preserved . Four adults feasted on the dish. This coming week I will be doing more but adding peppers, bacon and sausage. So y'all can eat bread- Im going for the grits...

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James Kelly
Owner- Fur Elise Piano Service
Pawleys Island SC
843-325-4357

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:03
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

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Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
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Doing projects for the wife and working on recording and copyrighting some musical pieces and arrangements I did years ago and just never had the time to pursue.  And taking the wife for rides on the motorcycle.  

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Timothy Edwards
Beckley WV
740-517-7636
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2020 16:03
From: Terrence Farrell
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

If you are like me and waiting for this virus to "just disappear", what have my busy-in-previous-times colleagues been doing lately? I mean, besides baking sourdough bread? (And oh man, have I ever gotten good at baking sourdough bread!!!)

I finally raised my bat house! And my dearly beloved Starr upright - the one I learned to tune pianos on - stepped up to help me.

I built this bat house more than a year ago and got it all the way to the point where I was ready to raise it (see above - it's been sitting' like that - only with a tarp over it - for the past year....). Couldn't quite figure out how to do it. The darn thing weighs well over 100 lbs. and has to go 20 feet up onto the top of a couple of 2x6s. The other day I went out to look at it again and saw an old steel fence post with a huge hunk of concrete around it. Then I though of a number of piano plate chunks I had laying around and an old metal cutting bandsaw that I was about to throw out. Then I put it all together and though of employing some elementary physics: A big heavy counterweight!

I put the fence post, the piano plate chunks and the band saw together and suspended them from the short end of my bat house lever (see picture below).

And what do you know? Success!!!  The counterweight made the bat house itself weigh no more than five or ten pounds - I could lift it with my pinkie!!!

And at the heart of my counterweight was my beloved Starr upright - never did it perform better - and I mean NEVER (VERY sad story....)!!!

Well, that's my story for now. What's your's?

------------------------------
Terry Farrell
Farrell Piano Service, Inc.
Brandon, Florida
terry@farrellpiano.com
813-684-3505
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Terry,
Now that you’ve got your bat house up, I’ll kindly decline any “locally sourced game” soup you may have on offer.

But seriously, I’ve been cleaning rust off a set of hand planes that I came into, and learning to sharpen and tune them.

Joe Wiencek, NYC


Original Message------

Doing projects for the wife and working on recording and copyrighting some musical pieces and arrangements I did years ago and just never had the time to pursue.  And taking the wife for rides on the motorcycle.  

------------------------------
Timothy Edwards
Beckley WV
740-517-7636
------------------------------

after letting this area go for three years because I was not inspired to work on it, I finally got on my hands and knees weeded this area, ripped up all the Moss, took it all with a compost pile,  and then planted a bunch of flowers!!   I also stopped shaving for 2 months.

------------------------------
Larry Fisher
Owner, Chief Grunt, Head Hosehead
Vancouver WA
503-310-6965
Working the gravy zone for the rest of my days.
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-17-2020 00:44
From: Joe Wiencek
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Terry,
Now that you've got your bat house up, I'll kindly decline any "locally sourced game" soup you may have on offer.

But seriously, I've been cleaning rust off a set of hand planes that I came into, and learning to sharpen and tune them.

Joe Wiencek, NYC


Original Message------

Doing projects for the wife and working on recording and copyrighting some musical pieces and arrangements I did years ago and just never had the time to pursue.  And taking the wife for rides on the motorcycle.  

------------------------------
Timothy Edwards
Beckley WV
740-517-7636
------------------------------

------------------------------
Larry Fisher
Owner, Chief Grunt, Head Hosehead
Vancouver WA
503-310-6965
Working the gravy zone for the rest of my days.
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-19-2020 22:42
From: Larry Fisher
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

after letting this area go for three years because I was not inspired to work on it, I finally got on my hands and knees weeded this area, ripped up all the Moss, took it all with a compost pile,  and then planted a bunch of flowers!!   I also stopped shaving for 2 months.

------------------------------
Larry Fisher
Owner, Chief Grunt, Head Hosehead
Vancouver WA
503-310-6965
Working the gravy zone for the rest of my days.

Original Message:
Sent: 05-17-2020 00:44
From: Joe Wiencek
Subject: If Not Working on Pianos, Then What?

Terry,
Now that you've got your bat house up, I'll kindly decline any "locally sourced game" soup you may have on offer.

But seriously, I've been cleaning rust off a set of hand planes that I came into, and learning to sharpen and tune them.

Joe Wiencek, NYC


Original Message------

Doing projects for the wife and working on recording and copyrighting some musical pieces and arrangements I did years ago and just never had the time to pursue.  And taking the wife for rides on the motorcycle.  

------------------------------
Timothy Edwards
Beckley WV
740-517-7636
------------------------------