Nassau

Newsletter
October, 2020

Volume xxvii, Number 10
Michael Slavin - President, John Luca - Vice President, Paul Keogler - Treasurer, Richard Liptzin - Secretary
The General Meeting

The general meeting for this month will be held on Tuesday, October 13, 2020 starting at 7 p.m.

This month's technical class will be by an old friend of our chapter, Alex Kostakis of AC Pianocraft, which is well known for its very fine rebuilding and restoration of high-quality grand pianos. Alex will host an open forum discussion on a wide variety of piano topics. He prefers this format rather than focusing on just one subject, and his encyclopedic knowledge of the instrument, especially Steinways, is certain to enlighten all of us. Please come prepared to contribute with a list of questions and problems for Alex to address.

For everyone's safety, we will be holding this meeting remotely via Zoom. To participate, make sure you have Zoom installed on your device: download Zoom

Everyone will receive an invitation by e-mail early on the day of the meeting with a reminder shortly before the meeting.


The chapter is suspending the collection of Chapter dues for this year due to the economic impact on our members of the COVID-19 pandemic.


Proposed Minutes of the September 15, 2020 Meeting
by Richard Liptzin - Secretary

The Zoom meeting was called to order by Mike Slavin at 7 p.m. Seven members were present.

The technical was given by Paul Keogler on noises in grand pianos. Most would think seeing a close demo would be better with a live group, but with the accuracy of the computer cameras, Paul was able to demonstrate very close examples for all to see.

Paul explained the first thing is to isolate the noise - on attack or release. Wood shrinks and expands, this affects the severity of the noise. Knuckles can create a lot of noise. Whippen alignment is also very important. Paul showed us tricks to identify noisy parts. Pins, key bushings, back rail cloth, and key rest rails can create noise. A discussion continued for the remainder of the meeting.

This was a very informative meeting and we thank Paul for his technical demos and displays.

The meeting was adjourned at 8 p.m.