Our PTG promotion kit is all set to go. You can see photos in the Photography section below. The brochure stuff all fits in a little roll around suitcase. If we get our grand action back , you can pull the suitcase, have your laptop or tablet with videos to play and carry the grand action model into your location and set it all up and promote away. Get some work and talk-up RPT and PTG. Our Youtube video this month is one that I acquired from an archive company last month. I asked for a copy for educational purposes. If any of you can acquire more video or photos for this purpose, please let me know. I will be using this with the brochure display.
I sent a list of questions to PTG to answer in regard to our Chapter website. The items inquired about involved use of PTG info and graphics standards compliance. As it turns out, we are not allowed to post the full bulletins on our website, only small portions with a link to the complete bulletin on the PTG website (makes sense to me.) I made the changes and you can see them from the link in upper right of this Newsletter.
I still need to register the site name. I was waiting for the reply from PTG which took almost 2 months. Some of the pages are not completed so I may just publish the site with under construction pages for now or leave them off all together until completed.
Contribute to our newsletter. Link above.
Dan
Photography
PTG Promotion
WWTT
Removing the strings from a 1920 art case Erard grand piano, the tuning pins weren't coming out in the usual fashion by using a power drill on reverse setting. Exerting pressure to the side while pulling up didn't seem to work in the expected way—the pins just seemed to spin in place. On close inspection, I realized to my surprise that the gnurling on the pins wasn't helical in even the slightest degree, but instead was perfectly horizontal; there was no reason or inclination for the pins to come out! (see photo below) The tool that finally seemed to do the trick was a large T-handle: a combination of side pressure on the pins while grunting, cursing, and lifting seemed to convince the pins to begin to rise, after which it became easier to spin them all the way out. All this took me somewhere around 5 hours of serious donkey work, all told.
What in the world were they thinking??! (And as recently as 1920, no less...)
Sure it's jumpy, dusty and flashy but, hey, 1929!!
A Question
Q Does a piano soundboard really need to have crown?
A.1 Yes, when it is constructed and before it is strung to pitch.
After that mother nature takes over and the ball is in her court. I have played pianos old and new, with and without crown (I measure crown all the time.) Usually they measure no more than a 1/16 to 1/8 inch at most. Some of the best sounding pianos I have played had no visible crown. That being said, crown and bearing are quite critical when restringing. Sometimes the best solution is to recap the bridge and set the bearing according to the crown left in the board if keeping the old board. db
A.2 Send your answer
Little Techy
Accutuner Pitch Raise
Bass Configuration
Set FAC or choose page.
Measure A4 to A3 total cent deviation (+cents to -cents.)
Mentally register deviations to obtain an average.
Determine average and add 2 cents to deviation
e.g. avg deviation = 15c + 2c = -17c
Move decimal over one for accutuner setting
e.g. deviation solution is 17c = 1.7c Accutuner deviation
Set obtained deviation for selected FAC
Tune the bass section only with this setting
Raise pitch in plain steel as usual for Accutuner
For spinets and raises more than 30c or so add 3 cents to deviation maybe 4 towards 100c deviations
Experimentation is called for in extreme situations
In many cases with smaller pitch raises, I have not needed to touch the bass on the second pass with this method. With practice on the educated guess portion even large pitch raises can be quite accurate.
db
Quotes
"The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the musician in that of invisible things."
- Leonardo da Vinci student of the arts and sciences
Disclaimer
"All expressions of opinion and all statements of supposed fact are
published on the authority of the author as listed, and are not to be
regarded as expressing the view of this chapter or the Piano Technicians
Guild Inc. unless such statements or opinions have been adopted by the
chapter or the Piano Technicians Guild Inc."
