A day in the life of our Friend...

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote in message
...

Me, too. I remembered to go both yesterday and today. That's probably
why they're going to pay me next Friday, though I can't be sure. It may
be just because they like me.

Yup! That's why you get the BIG BUCKS, Mort! :~)

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 07:29:56 -0500, Bob Noel
wrote in
:

My father rebuilt player pianos for decades

Then he must have heard of Carty Piano who rose from humble beginnings
in the early '60s to probability become the largest player piano
restorer on the west coast. Ah, it brings back fond memories of
rabbit-skin glue in a thermal jacketed pot, disassembling a thousand
wooden parts, ironing-off old pneumatic cloth, re-tubing the tracker
bar, vacuuming out a century's worth of dust, regulating the action
and leveling the keyboard.... Dick Carty is still alive and well in
Ventura, California. Would I recognize the name of your father's
business?

In article ,
Larry Dighera wrote:

My father rebuilt player pianos for decades

Then he must have heard of Carty Piano who rose from humble beginnings
in the early '60s to probability become the largest player piano
restorer on the west coast. Ah, it brings back fond memories of
rabbit-skin glue in a thermal jacketed pot, disassembling a thousand
wooden parts, ironing-off old pneumatic cloth, re-tubing the tracker
bar, vacuuming out a century's worth of dust, regulating the action
and leveling the keyboard.... Dick Carty is still alive and well in
Ventura, California. Would I recognize the name of your father's
business?

Maybe not, since we were (are) on the east coast, and you didn't
make the connection between Noel and Noel's Piano Supply.

You ironed the cloth off? ugh. Lightly burn it and it comes off
easily. Sure, there are bellows that can't be easily burned, but
ironing-off the old cloth is sooooo slow.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 08:59:57 -0500, Bob Noel
wrote in
:

Maybe not, since we were (are) on the east coast, and you didn't
make the connection between Noel and Noel's Piano Supply.

I was only an amateur who restored a couple of pianos, so I wasn't so
intimately involved in the business. But I'll bet Dick would
recognize the name.

You ironed the cloth off? ugh. Lightly burn it and it comes off
easily. Sure, there are bellows that can't be easily burned, but
ironing-off the old cloth is sooooo slow.

It wasn't too slow if the iron was hot. The glue readily re-melted,
and the old pneumatic cloth slid right off. Didn't burning the cloth
cause a lot of noxious fumes and char scaring of the wood? You didn't
use a torch to remove the pneumatic bellows from the stack did you;
you used an iron right?

Today, of course, the popularity of mechanical pianos is in rapid
decline in favor of smaller, less expensive electronic keyboards, but
I still thrill at the sounds of a real grand piano lilting through the
house even if it is being played by a PianoDisc system:
http://www.pianodisc.com/

In article ,
Larry Dighera wrote:

Maybe not, since we were (are) on the east coast, and you didn't
make the connection between Noel and Noel's Piano Supply.

I was only an amateur who restored a couple of pianos, so I wasn't so
intimately involved in the business. But I'll bet Dick would
recognize the name.

Later today I'll try to remember to ask my father if he remembers the
name

You ironed the cloth off? ugh. Lightly burn it and it comes off
easily. Sure, there are bellows that can't be easily burned, but
ironing-off the old cloth is sooooo slow.

It wasn't too slow if the iron was hot. The glue readily re-melted,
and the old pneumatic cloth slid right off.

Way quicker to put 10 or so into a C-clamp, lightly burn it, open the
clamp, use a floor-standing 6" belt-sander to clean off the pneumatics
(in groups of 3), being very careful of the hinged end.

Didn't burning the cloth
cause a lot of noxious fumes and char scaring of the wood?

fumes, yes. Noxious? I hope not. :-)

if you burned the wood, you burned it too much. Use a propane torch
to just get the cloth/glue to char/bubble just a little.

You didn't
use a torch to remove the pneumatic bellows from the stack did you;
you used an iron right?

For the pneumatics, the only time you need to use an iron is when chiseling
doesn't work. We had (and still have) a slightly dull wood chisel that was
perfect (if the chisel can cut pine, it's way too sharp). Start the pneumatic
with a hit or two underneath along the entire row, a hit or two on the side
and hinged end of each pneumatic, and they pop right off, usually. Sometimes
the glue is so old/dried that you can knock them off with one hit if you did it
just right - took practice.

The beauty of chiseling was that often they wouldn't come off clean and smooth,
which helped in positioning the pneumatic when we glued them back on.

If we broke one, we simply made a new one.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 11:19:34 -0500, Bob Noel
wrote in
:

The beauty of chiseling was that often they wouldn't come off clean and smooth,
which helped in positioning the pneumatic when we glued them back on.

I was taught to drill shallow holes through the pneumatic into the
stack, and put short pieces of steel rod (cut 3d nails worked) into
the holes, so that they could be keyed back into their exact original
position.

Those were the days. I'm better for the experience, but I'm happy
they are behind me.

In article ,
Larry Dighera wrote:

My father rebuilt player pianos for decades

Then he must have heard of Carty Piano who rose from humble beginnings

Nope. My father doesn't remember him.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

In article ,
Larry Dighera wrote:

The beauty of chiseling was that often they wouldn't come off clean and
smooth,
which helped in positioning the pneumatic when we glued them back on.

I was taught to drill shallow holes through the pneumatic into the
stack, and put short pieces of steel rod (cut 3d nails worked) into
the holes, so that they could be keyed back into their exact original
position.

wow. ohmygawd, wow. That is so labor intensive. Obviously
it works, but it's a bit more than necessary.

If you use a pencil, you can draw a line across the hinged end. This
shows how far back to have the pneumatic. For left/right, there is always
some marking left on the stack which shows where the pneumatic was.
And the pencil line has a little dip in-between the pneumatics as extra
information.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:35:46 -0500, Bob Noel
wrote in
:

In article ,
Larry Dighera wrote:

My father rebuilt player pianos for decades

Then he must have heard of Carty Piano who rose from humble beginnings

Nope. My father doesn't remember him.


Oh well. Thanks.