A regular meeting of the L. I. Nassau Chapter PTG was held on April 14, 2009 at Frank and Camille's Keyboard Center located at 371 Old Country Road in Carle Place, NY. Six chapter members and three guests attended.

President Michael Slavin called the meeting to order at 6:58 PM.

The minutes as published in the on-line newsletter were accepted by general consent.

President Slavin announced the following:

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference will be held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The dates for the conference are April 23-26, 2009

The name of one member of the chapter was deleted from PTG's membership roster for non-payment of annual dues.

The dinner committee hasn't settled on a location for the June dinner meeting.

The results of chapter elections were made known. Thirteen election ballots were returned. There was one abstention. The rest indicated a vote in favor of the nominated slate of officers. President: Michael Slavin; Vice-President: Paul Eccardt: Secretary: Allan Schumacker; Treasurer: Paul Keogler. Marty Dinerstein's name did not appear on the election ballot, as he declined the nomination for the office of secretary.

Paul Keogler raised the issue of sending a delegate to the Council meeting that will be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan this summer. There was a brief discussion. No action was taken.

The business meeting ended at 7:12 PM.

The guest speaker for the evening was John Zeiner Sr. from Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was accompanied by Ruth Phillips, who introduced him to those in attendance at 7:28 PM.

The topic for the presentation was: "Agraffes Can be Fun!" Using a laptop computer and an LCD projector, Mr. Zeiner illustrated the tools and procedures used in replacing agraffes and hitchpins. Photographs of examples of poor workmanship relating to string replacement were also shown. Examples of poor quality hitchpin loops and poor beckets at the tuning pin were shown.

Mr. Zeiner discussed the various types of agraffes and their differences. The spacing of the holes in the agraffe determines where, in the stringing scale, the agraffe will be used. There are two different types of agraffes for bichords. The selection of which agraffe to use for a bichord depends on the diameter of the copper winding on the bass strings.

• The diameter of the threaded portion is typically 7/32" or 1/4".
• The threads can be either rolled or cut. Examination of an agraffe under an electron microscope reveals that an agraffe with cut threads is weaker than an agraffe with rolled threads.
• The underside of the agraffe that contacts the plate can be flat or tapered.
• Broken 7/32" diameter agraffes are more difficult to remove using a screw extractor than 1/4" diameter agraffes.
• The height of the holes in the agraffe will vary, depending on the manufacturer of the agraffe. This will effect the downbearing measurement of the string. The exception to this is that the height of the holes in new agraffes from Steinway and Sons match up with those of the original agraffe on older Steinway pianos.
• It was mentioned that some plates have recessed holes to accommodate agraffes. Because of this, agraffes used on this type plate may not be threaded along their entire length.

The procedure for replacing a broken agraffe was discussed, along with tools used to facilitate the procedure. Agraffe shimming was also mentioned. Mr. Zeiner stated his preference for reusing the old string. He also encouraged members of the audience to remove all parts of the broken agraffe from the old string, before installing the new agraffe.

Various tools used in the replacement of agraffes and examples of different types of agraffes were passed around for members to examine. Pianotek Supply Company sells a kit for drilling out damaged agraffe holes and cutting new threads in the plate to accommodate the new agraffe. This kit was also made available for inspection.

There was a short discussion involving the replacement of broken hitchpins and how to drill out the remains of the broken hitchpin in the plate.

Mr. Zeiner's presentation ended with a short question and answer period.

The meeting adjourned at 8:23 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Allan N. Schumacker, RPT