1949 Ivers & Pond Console

After searching a bit for alternative sources of supply, it became clear that we would be manufacturing 88 back checks. It could have been worse - my mentor had to make a set of jacks for an action - that's a tough one!

Visualize the clock in the old movies that turns hours into seconds and after a few rounds, we are delivering the completed action to one very happy lady.

Her husband is not there to hear it but she knows he can hear her playing because it's just like he never left.

That's the "elegant compensation" in our work.

Of course, there was still a bunch of parts to be repinned, so we went about our business while we pondered the Back Check Dilemma - as it came to be known in the shop

Our task was to remove the center pins that hold the parts together and replace the plastic parts with wood. A job but not insurmountable.

But those bits of plastic with the green felt attached in the picture to the right - called back checks - were no longer available from our suppliers.

Ivers & Pond bought the action and keys for this piano from Pratt Read of Ivoryton, CT. Many actions made by Pratt Read had plastic parts - some more, some less.

Unfortunately, this action had plastic wippen, hammer and damper flanges - but wait, there's more - plastic damper levers, jacks and back checks!

Sometimes we take on a job for the "elegant compensation" of making someone happy, in addition to our usual fee. This piano was purchased new by our customer right after she and her husband married - just after World War II.

The piano dealer was honest enough to tell them that the new plastic parts in the action were an experiment. When we saw the piano, the plastic had gotten so brittle that the action was literally falling apart