Disklavier

One of the blessings of the internet, to me, is communicating with real 
people and exchanging unedited information. Just remember though, that such 
a smorgasboard of information can also be a Pandora's Box!  My personal view 
of technical advice is that if you have the chutzpah to take something apart 
and attempt to fix it, you will most likely work  through the tears of 
putting it back together and trying to get it to work again! So, for those 
who have no other resources, i.e. real piano technicians, here is where I 
would tell you to look.  Good Luck!

To learn about how your Disklavier works, read your Owner's Manual.  There 
is some really good stuff in there - honest!  The Yamaha website is also 
fantastic.

To learn to play the piano, read the book "How to Play the Piano Despite 
Years of Lessons" available at www.amazon.com

To learn about basic piano repairs, I love Arthur Reblitz "Piano Servicing, 
Tuning and Rebuilding" also at www.amazon.com  It has good pictures.

To learn about pianos in general, I like Larry Fine's The Piano Book.  Also 
available from www.amazon.com

Forget about reading books on piano tuning if your only interest is to touch 
up the tuning on your own piano.  Download the free version of TuneLab 97 at 
www.tunelab-world.com  If you really like this stuff, there is none better 
than Reyburn CyberTuner ($900) at www.reyburn.com  I must tell you though, 
that my most loyal clients are those who have attempted to tune their own 
pianos!

The best place to start on the web for piano information is the Piano 
Technicians Guild homepage at www.ptg.org

And to you all, and especially to Budds sitting on the other side of the 
world, Merry Christmas to you, too!


Carol Beigel
crbrpt@...


>From: "Budds" <bwije@...>
>Reply-To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
>To: <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: RE: [disklavier] Re: piano accompaniments (and Happy Holidays)
>Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 13:31:42 +0600
>
>Dear Carol,
>
>Having had endless chats on email with you, I used to often wonder how
>you had achieved such heights in knowledge on the technical aspects of a
>piano. Thank you for sharing your past experiences. You have also
>secretly fulfilled my inquisitiveness.
>
>Sitting here in Sri Lanka, on the opposite side of the world form where
>you are, I send my warmest wishes again for Christmas and may all your
>wishes come true for you and your family in happy 2003.
>
>Having started my project to restore my piano I am starting to get more
>and more interested in the technical side of things. I am in the field
>of  mechanical engineering and plays the piano and other instruments
>only by ear and cannot read music. I started in school playing the
>"Melodica" for the band and then the Trombone for the senior school
>band. Ever since then I have been having Orgens and keyboards and
>recently bought the piano. As there is not much technical support over
>here I have to do things pretty much my self including the damaged
>electronics side of my Disklavier. With your experience, how would you
>advice to for one to start fresh in this field? May be with a piano
>tuning course?
>
>Thanks again and
>with best regards
>Budds.
>
>(Buddhika)
>Colombo
>Sri Lanka
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Carol Beigel [mailto:carolrpt@...]
>Sent: Monday, December 23, 2002 4:07 AM
>To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: RE: [disklavier] Re: piano accompaniments (and Happy Holidays)
>
>I am the grown-up version of the 6-year-old who fell in love with my
>piano
>teacher's player piano.  It would take me another 30 years before I
>bought a
>broken one to take apart and restore.  To this day, I am awed by the
>simplicity of the design of the 5-valve air motor that sent a constant
>air
>pressure through the tracker bar that played the paper rolls.  How five
>little bends in an axle could be so brilliant!
>
>I spent 10 years rebuilding pianos, using a Pianocorder vorsetzer to
>test
>and break in the new strings.  Those Pianocorder cassette tapes were the
>
>first translations of the paper piano rolls into electronic form.  The
>vorsetzer was a collection of 80 pinball solenoids hanging upside down
>that
>would play the piano keys.  The thing was adjustable to any keyboard
>height,
>and also played the pedals.
>
>Eventually, the global economy made rebuilding American pianos not very
>competitive with new Asian piano prices so I became a field
>tuner/technician
>for a Steinway dealer for the next 9 years of my career.  I have been
>happily self employed for the past 6 years here in the Washington, D.C.
>area
>with a specialty in electronic midi player piano service - especially
>the
>Disklavier.  I own a fine Yamaha U1 upright piano with a MarkIIXG
>Disklavier.
>
>My baby grandson seems to have more than a casual interest in my
>keyboard
>and piano.  When he stays over we always have to play the Disklavier
>before
>he goes to bed.  So I am motivated to learn more about music and how it
>is
>made in hopes of encouraging perhaps the next little Mozart!
>
>Carol Beigel
>crbrpt@...
>
> >From: "Douglas J. Miller" <douglas@...>
> >Reply-To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
> >To: <disklavier@yahoogroups.com>
> >Subject: RE: [disklavier] Re: piano accompaniments (and Happy Holidays)
> >Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 13:06:52 -0800
> >
> >Dear Ms. Beigel,
> >
> >Thank you for the wonderful email about learning piano / music theory!
>You
> > >are so right! . . .
> >
> >Who are you, and from where do you hail?
>
>
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>
>Todd's family web site was completely rewritten in June 2001 and
>contains some fun disklavier content and links to midi sites among other
>things, The url is:
>http://MuncyFamily.com
>
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