Because our usual meeting venue in Westbury has been lost due to the termination of Camille's temporary lease, the general meeting for this month will be held on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 starting at 7 p.m. at:

Please note: Frank and Camille's closes at 8 p.m. The meeting must begin promptly.

This month's technical will be presented by Gerry Gravina, RPT, owner of Piano Master LLC. Gerry is a 30 year veteran in piano service. Based in Babylon, the company, a team of five and growing, has clients from Manhattan to Montauk. The clients include private piano owners and institutions, as well as theaters and concert venues. Jerry grew up in the Suffolk Chapter of the PTG and served as vice president and president, and has also served as president of the NYC Chapter where he is currently a member.

Gerry will present a class on installing twin piano dollies alone. His class description:

There will be no Executive Committee dinner prior to the general meeting. However if anyone would like to arrange to get together at a restaurant on Route 110 before the meeting, please call Michael Slavin at (516) 781-8888 and we will make plans.

The June meeting was our season-end dinner party, which was held on Tuesday evening June 14, 2016 at Heart of Portugal in Mineola. Consequently, there are no minutes this month.

Often when performing trapwork repairs, the pitman dowel will drop down out of position when the traplever is lowered, requiring reinstallation upon completion of the work. If the action is already out of the piano, here is a simple way to prevent this annoying inconvenience before service begins. Draw a mark across the dowel where it comes out of the keybed hole. Depress and wedge the pedal so that the damper tray and pitman are in their raised position, to gain greater access to the dowel. Then drill a 1/16" hole (either partially or fully through the dowel) just slightly above the pencil line. Remove the pedal wedge and lower the damper system to rest position. Insert a piece of music wire, a thin nail, or a center pin into the hole, and the pitman will remain suspended in the keybed hole while the trapwork service proceeds.