Pianotech

  • 1.  Rebushing 1913 vintage Brambach grand hammer flanges

    Posted 4 hours ago

    I need to cure an extremely sluggish hammer situation in this old piano.  To me the only recourse it to drill out the old flange bushings and put new ones in.  My usual way of pricing a repair is to use the "G" Piano Works Repair Labor Guide.  When I look at the entry "Rebush (both sides), each" I get a time of 0.2 hours.  First of all it is puzzling to me why it was need to say both sides as I can't imagine a situation where you'd only do 1 side.  The main thing that I need help with, though, is the fact that there is no entry for rebushing a set (of 88) bushings.  If you multiply it out you get 17.6 hours of labor which seems to be way too much.  I am tempted to use the entry for replacing a set of flanges which is 5.00 hours.  I'll appreciate any comments from the more experienced members of this group

    THANKS



    ------------------------------
    Neil Vanderschaaf
    Round Rock TX
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Rebushing 1913 vintage Brambach grand hammer flanges

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 4 hours ago
    Neil

    I think the time allotted for one flange would include removing the action and putting it back. You’re only going to do that once when you do all the flanges.

    But don’t let the time fool you. It’s amazing how much extra time I’ve spent doing supposedly easy jobs that get complicated very easy because a part broke or the fix wasn’t successful and I had to start all over.

    My suggestion is to keep that time frame and quote the cost accordingly. It might convince the customer to get another piano.

    Wim.
    Sent from my iPhone




  • 3.  RE: Rebushing 1913 vintage Brambach grand hammer flanges

    Posted 2 hours ago

    Wim, thanks for the reply.  I understand totally since I've done this job on all of the flanges on an upright but it was my first and a learning experience so I had my share of "gotchas" along the way.   I hoping it won't be as bad now that I've gone down the learning curve a bit.



    ------------------------------
    Neil Vanderschaaf
    Round Rock TX
    ------------------------------