In this issue:
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| President's Message
Doug Brandt brought this instrument to my attention from a For Sale
poster at Capital University. It is a Conover Vertical Grand
(commonly known as a giraffe piano, nearly eight ft. tall) made by the
Cable Company of Chicago, IL. You may see additional color photos on the
Chapter
web page www.ptgcolumbus.org in Tech Photos. A matching bench is also
pictured.
Meeting Minutes (excerpts) Old Business: Chris is confirmed as our delegate to council. New Business: A thank you note was received from the Ohio Health Foundation for the donation made in Ruth McCall’s memory. Dale Logan, a piano technician who recently moved to Marysville, died suddenly March 10 of a heart attack. A card was passed around for members to sign. The Home Office requests a copy of our by-laws to make sure they are in compliance with the National by-laws. Kim will send a copy. From RVP Richard Bittner: Kim is confirmed as a TEC (Technical Examiner). $21,00.00 has been approved in the budget for the Webmaster Project; members should check out changes on the website. The 2006 National convention site is being changed from Philadelphia because the Adams Mark hotel is closed. Columbus OH and Rochester NY are 2 cities the committee has looked at. The PTG Board is looking for members to serve on National Committees; interested people should contact Richard. And last, our chapter dues reimbursement check should arrive in April. We have 21 members not counting 3 who are delinquent. Ben led a discussion on the merits of old bridges and soundboards vs.
new ones. Thanks to Ben and Jon for the great refreshments.
Next Meeting - April 19, 2005
I'll plan on offering a technical presentation on Keyframes: diagnosing
problems, quick and easy repairs, and comparing some old and new methods
of bedding. I'll look forward to candidly answering any questions
about the Pearl River Piano Co.
Chapter News & Notes In Memory
Pictured below: Benjamin Wiant at the Steinway D for his piano
recital in February. Ben played a program of the late piano works by Johannes
Brahms in front of an enthusiastic audience. Ben said it was his first
public performance in 38 years. Well done Ben!
The piano belonging to Ruth McCall will be for sale by her daughter,
interested parties may contact:
Tech Tips
On Whitney, and similar spinets, where it is difficult to get a screwdriver
on the butt-flange screw heads without pulling the action due to the regulating
rail being directly in front of them, back off the 5 or 6 screws holding
it on the forks and drop the let-off rail down on the wippens. Now you
can remove the butts or tighten the butts with the action still in the
piano. Just be sure to put the rail back exactly where it was or it will
change the let-off.
From the newsletter of Steinway & Sons "The Steinway Technician" John Patton - Director of Technical Services, announced some changes
being made to Steinway pianos. One change is in the model 1098 pianos to
aid in ease of tuning, such as removing the casting mound in the tuning
pin area. John also stated they have started using a new plate pattern
for the scale B. As a result there has been a slight change in the cabinet
dimensions, the treble bridge bevel and contour, and an increase in the
interior cavity width.
Here are a few thoughts and notes from fellow Chapter member Rick
Miller and his experiences up north at the University of Western Ontario.
I thought they were worth sharing with our readers. - Mark
Anyhow, I am now living here in London, Ontario and going to school sixty to seventy hours a week. London is a city of about 320,000 people and the university has 28,000 full time students. London is called the “forest city” because of its abundance of green space. The are five parks within walking distance of my apartment and a bike trail that follows the Thames river all the way to campus. Most days I ride a bike to school because it is faster than driving. Life is good. Ok ... Now for the curriculum. Class meets Monday through Friday from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm. We have one hour for lunch, but mostly we eat while we work in the shop. There are no scheduled breaks. This is WORK. On Tuesdays, we have Physics from 7:00 pm until 10:00 pm. This course is actually taught by a full professor from the Physics department. He only teaches “The Physics of Sound and Music” because is passionate about music. The rest of his time is spent doing research into things that us mortals don’t understand and teaching stuff like quantum mechanics. But now, as a result of hours of pain-staking study, should you ever need to calculate the speed of sound waves through media like hydrogen or helium at varying temperatures (does this come up often while you are tuning???), I’m your guy. Call me. Now, if my unisons would just quiet down... Each day is roughly divided between tuning instruction and practice, and working in the shop or on the pianos that are designated for our class. There are fourteen people taking the course, and we have fourteen pianos in practice rooms for our use. The music students can use them when we are not, but we always have priority. December 17, 2004 I just finished
my final exams for the semester. The were as follows: Physics:
Three hour written exam. Lots of math. Damn difficult. I used two hours
and fifty-eight minutes of the allotted time. Tuning:
Three hours to tune the piano you draw by lottery. The instructor “custom
tuned” all pianos before the exam. Not easy. Piano tech: One hour
written exam. What does it cover? Anything and everything that was ever
said during three months of class, whether it was important or not. No
way to B.S. your way through this stuff. Piano tech: One hour
of bench work. It was somewhat like being given a few test tubes and some
random chemicals and being asked to “create life” in one hour. No problem.
Piano Tech: One hour of trouble-shooting pianos.
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