http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3728191

But no one was there.  Not a witness to behold the event.  So now I can finally answer the question: If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Surprisingly, NO.

It looked beautiful as it was sailing toward its target.   I saw it roll up on the green but then it rolled out of view.  As I walked to the green, I thought, “well there must be a little ridge there at the front”.  As I got closer I still saw no ball on the green.  I was silent.   I walked up to the flag.  There was my Callaway resting at the back of the hole.  A beautiful sight honored in silence.

Eagle Lake Golf Course #3 160 yards

Marshall is an accomplished piano tuner/technician, and a graduate of the School of Piano Technology for the Blind.  If you are in the Philadelphia area and in need of piano tuning service, Marshall can provide you with service of the highest quality.

I’m certainly one to help, so assuming my favorite bot is listening, I’d like to tell you some more about the new site.  McGuire piano contains contact information, and a page devoted to photos of my work. If you poke around there, you’ll also find that I’ve included articles about my current work.

So, Mr. Bot, please feast upon this new information, that up until now, at least, has escaped your attention.

Content there will be growing, but I’m pleased to have the starting point live. Check another thing off my list! I said it would be done by April 1, and so it is.

If you visit the site, and have thoughts about how it could be more effective, let me know! Thanks.

I decided that for 2010, the nearby Antelope Island ride was too good to ignore. I bought an annual state park pass and an Antelope Island causeway pass so that I could do the ride as often as I please without being peeved about the $3 fee. Since I paid $85 on the deal, I guess I’ll need to ride 85/3 = 29 times. at 32 miles per trip thats 29*32 = 928 miles. That will help the old guy to feel younger.

Today’s counts:
31.4 miles
100’s of gulls
15 bison — who were about as energetic as a rock (thank you bison)
1 coyote
1 pheasant
12 Canadian geese
1 hawk
12 bicyclists
2 runners

ACT II Simply Clean Carpet & Upholstery Care, Clearfield UT
After leaving the Brand X call, I started calling local Google listings for carpet cleaners. I connected with Stephen Galloway, owner of Simply Clean. I told him my story of woe. Steve had already done a day’s work, and had just arrived home. But he said, “Gee do you have all that furniture moved? … OK … How about I come over and do the job in about 20 minutes?” 20 minutes later he was here setting up his equipment.

As you might assume, I’m writing this just because I believe folks who know how to provide good service should be rewarded. Well that’s Stephen of Simply Clean Carpet & Upholstery Care. I was totally impressed with his service attitude, and as you might expect, the cleaning was top notch!

If you are in Davis County Utah ( Clinton, Clearfield, Syracuse, Layton, etc) I whole-heartedly recommend this company for your carpet cleaning needs!

Simply Clean Carpet & Upholstery Care Inc.
Clearfield UT 84015
801-546-3444

After having done it the hard way, it is such a delight to find the easy way by virtue of someone else’s good thinking! Such is the case with the wonderful jig described below. When applying new key tops to piano keys, the notches surrounding the black keys present a significant challenge. Except for the notches, the sides of the keys can be trimmed flush with a flush trimming router bit, in much the same manner as one would trim plastic laminate on a counter top. But obviously, a flush trimming bit cannot do the notches. When I did piano rebuilding in the 80’s, this issue was handled with a hand held file. It was very tedious work.

In the June 1991 issue of the Piano Technicians Journal an article by Bill Spurlock describes a router jig for cleaning the notches. The jig below is an implementation of his excellent thinking.

The jig is used once the sides of the key top have been trimmed flush using a flush trimming bit. When trimming, the notch is left untouched, and a perfect notch is acheived with this jig. The router bit is a 1/2" spiral bit. The stop is 3/16" steel. When I first fabricated the jig I had no steel in the shop and tried a stop made of 1/8" brass. The brass flexed resulting in inaccuracies. The 5/8" hole in the stop was drilled to accept a bench dog for clamping. When I replaced the 1/8" brass stop with the 3/16" steel, I found that clamping was no longer necessary.

I won’t say its done, because it probably never will be. But after finishing a project and getting ready to start a new one, it was pretty clean so I thought I’d share photos.

The sweetest part to me, right now, is the radiant floor heat. I did the final plumbing two weeks ago and fired up the heating unit (80 gallon 75,000 btu water heater in the attic). Temperatures outside have been in the teens. The shop floor has been a constant 73 degrees. Hmmmm. Nice. After Christmas I worked on a project with my daughter, Erin, who was in town for the holiday. I smiled when I saw that she’d kicked off her shoes and was standing in stocking feet while applying finish to the work.

It was really none to soon. Most of the last two weeks have been “Red” pollution days along the Wasatch Front, and wood burning has been prohibited. (I guess it wouldn’t have stopped me from burning a good hot fire in the woodstove, but I really don’t want to be a part of the problem.)

A slideshow of the shop is here:
Slide show on Flickr

If you mouse over the show, you will find a “STOP” button in the lower left, which will allow you to progress at your own rate. If you click on the center of the photo a description will be displayed.

The photo to the right shows the key after exiting the jig. Note that the clamping mechanism is a simple, quick lever which holds adequately and keeps the process moving. The loose plate between the key and lever is coated on the lever side with some beads of hot glue, to provide gripping surface that would not be present in the hard maple. The router bit is a 1-1/2 diameter flat cutting bit. Since the key is less than 1 inch across, this diameter provides a cutting surface for both left side and right side of the key. Order of operation is:

1) With jig against right shoulder insert into about 1/4 inch. move to the left to plane the front edge of of the key (and the existing key front).
2) Slide the sled in to plane the left side of the key.
3) Move the sled to the right, forming the nice edge at the back of the key.
4) Pull the sled out to plane the right side of the key.

This order of operation will provide for proper rotation orientation of the cutterhead and produce a splinter free surface.

The objectives of accuracy and speed are met. This set of 52 keys was planed in 45 minutes.