Long Island Suffolk Chapter

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SUFFOLK SOUNDBOARD

Long Island -Suffolk County Chapter

March, 2003

Next meeting - Tuesday, March 18, 2003

Frank & Camille’s, Rt. 110, Melville - 8:00 PM

“Round-Table Discussion on Pitch Raising”

with panelists Atsundo Aikawa, Paul Eccardt and Jim Dowling

President’s Message

It’s been a while since we’ve all been together. December’s meeting was sparsely attended – not even a quorum. In January, a few of us went out for dinner together. February’s meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather. So, here we are, March 2003. But instead of looking back, I’d like to look forward, and give you and idea of the technicals that are lined up for the next several meetings.

March 18: The March meeting will be “A Round Table Discussion on Pitch Raising”. (Come with questions.) Our guests will be Atsundo Aikawa, NYC Chapter Rayburn Cyber Tuner (RCT) Expert; Paul Eccardt, RPT, who pitch raised for Steinway for 25 years; and our own Jim Dowling, RPT, resident expert on the “silent pitch raise”. (Come with questions.)

The format for the round-table discussion will be as follows. (Come with questions.) Each guest will spend five to ten minutes describing his method of pitch raising. (Come with questions.) Then – and this is where you come in – the guests will field questions on anything that has to do with pitch raising. So come with questions. The questions will be asked one at a time, and each guest in turn will have a chance to answer.

April 15: The April meeting will be “The Steinway Factory Tour”. Because rim bending at the factory happens in the morning, and rim bending is something we want to see, this will be a special morning meeting. We’ll meet at Frank and Camille’s Melville (probably at about 8:00am) and car pool into Astoria. The tour will take about 2 hours. There will be no evening meeting on April 15.

SUFFOLK SOUNDBOARD

May 20: The Open Tool Case segment of our monthly meetings will culminate in May with RPT Dan Levitan’s, “The NY City Tool Case. Dan has written about his famous,

slim and trim tool case in the Journal, and has presented this technical at various regional and national conventions. We are honored to have him as our guest.

June 17: The June meeting will be our end of the year social (at Dave’s, if he and Lyn will have us back!) Details to follow.

In addition to the technicals, and because of the cancelled February meeting and the Steinway tour in place of the April meeting, we have a fair amount of business to take care of between 8:00 and 8:30 on March 18 and May 20. We have a new member to vote in (Chris Briggs), delegates and scholarships to consider for the Dallas convention, and upcoming elections, just to name a few. I will also briefly address the recent emails posted to suffolkptg.org.

Think warm thoughts. I look forward to seeing everybody on March 18^th.

A technical tip from the Piano Pediatrist:

To re-connect pedal pivot blocks or trap springs to vertical piano bottom boards when screw holes become stripped, through-bolt the pivot block or pelican spring using the appropriate size bolts and matching t-nuts. The t-nuts are countersunk into the underside of the bottom board and become permanent fixtures, making a very solid and permanent repair.