SOUTH BAY CHAPTER

April Meeting: (2nd Tuesday)
Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Seated at your computer, smartphone or tablet
Pre-requisites: Internet Connection, Zoom Account/app
    Zoom must be set up in advance of the meeting time!  See instructions Here

Last month we had an excellent technical presentation from Randy and Charlie Morton of Pacific Piano Supply Company. Replacement of action parts will breathe new life into our clients' heirloom pianos, and getting the right action parts for the job has never been easier. Pacific Piano has worked in close collaboration with Japanese piano parts manufacturer Tokiwa to create exceptionally accurate reproductions of pre-1940 golden era American piano action parts. Upon request, Pacific will send you a kit with samples to accurately determine the parts you need. We watched clips from a popular Japanese TV program that featured Pacific Piano and Tokiwa, giving us an intimate look at the Hamamatsu factory and the care that goes into making these quality parts.

If boring hammers is beyond your scope of practice, Pacific can do it for you. Their full service shop offers complete restoration, including restringing, pinblock replacement, and keyboard restoration. Randy showed us the quality precision and attention to detail Tokiwa employs to diligently bring us this incredible resource of very specific action parts that are exactingly designed to make our job , and the piano , run smoothly. Visit https://pacificpiano.com/ for more information.

This month will be our first chapter Zoom meeting! Don Mannino has agreed to be our guinea pig for this new meeting format, and he has agreed to reprise his presentation on Shigeru Kawai voicing which he presented in Chicago last month. Don will cover the full topic, introducing the Shigeru Kawai pianos, discussing the factory piano preparation procedures and the in-home service process. Included will be video of his voicing demonstrations on a Shigeru Kawai 7-foot grand from Chicago.

If you do not yet have the Zoom software, please look for the Zoom instructions Here. Once you have the app installed and your account setup, then please send an email to Don Mannino to receive an invitation.

Some tips once the session is connected:
- The meeting will start with everyone’s video and audio turned off. Don will see a list of people attending. You can turn on your camera or un-mute the audio at any time during the meeting if you want to.
- Don will be asking attendees to keep the microphone muted until you need to ask a question. If you refer to the instruction page in this newsletter you will see where the microphone button is. Click / tap this to mute or unmute.
- Don will be wearing an earpiece throughout and will be able to hear everyone who speaks up. Feel free to speak up and get his attention along the way, just as you would if you were in a normal seminar – everyone will be able to hear your question.
- After your question, it is helpful if you mute your microphone again so that background sounds at your location don’t disturb everyone who is attending. Barking dogs and seminars do not mix well!

With safeguards in place to prevent the spread of Coronavirus, the landscape for how we will do our meetings in the coming months has changed . PTG is adapting to this scenario with many resources for our members . We know these are tough times for our members, and we want to help support each other by sharing all these resources. The email from the home office sent to all members on Friday, March 27 details many of the resources PTG is offering. We want to provide as much support as we can as we all continue to hang in there. We encourage everyone to do their part to halt this Coronavirus situation. 

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