Re: Restoring George Bovard's Gulbransen
By Larry Fisher
>
> I'm sure it will cost a lot more than that to "fix" our Gulbransen. I
> just noticed that the part I call a "harp" (cast-iron) has a crack through
> the top middle bolt. I don't know if it happened during the move, or if
> it was always there? It's not badly out of tune, so I suspect the crack
> was there before. Any ideas? The movers put the piano on its side to
> get through a door. Could that have done it? Is it ruined?
>
> George
>
> ---------------------
Regarding cracks in plates.......usually that's a terminal indicator, or in other words, start diggin a hole, a big one. From the sounds of it, the crack in yours is similar to the crack in the Liberty Bell somewheres back east........it still works so don't mess with it. It probably didn't happen during the move. Pianos are moved on their sides all the time, especially grands. A good cast will hold up to lots of abuse. Someone with some casting experience would expound on the durability factor of different types of casts, ....temp, mix, cooling time, etc.
Regarding the fact that it's a Gulbransen player............if you have the one with the screwed in pneumatics, you're probably going to be about average in cost of rebuilding. If you have the one where everything is glued together,........... well, they can be interresting to do. I'm curious to hear what someone else has to say on recovering a Gulbransen with the glued together stack. I've heard about a 55 gallon drum to dip them in, and then there's the cut it with a table saw method, and the replace with custom made stack method. Any others??
Lar
Larry Fisher, Metro Portland, Or.
Factory Preferred Installer for PianoDisc Products
phone 360-256-2999 or Email larryf@pacifier.com
live life with variety and stare adversity in the eye!! |
(Message sent Wed 31 Jan 1996, 15:08:16 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.) |
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