On Sat, 16 Dec 1995, thom fitzpatrick wrote:

> I just bought a piano tuning toolkit, dated 1906 (stamped on various
> pieces) for $40, but I have no idea what is what in it.
>
> This thing came with 3 tuning hammers (I know what they are) tuning forks,
> various little do-dads I've never seen before, and there's a little square
> piece of wood with a hole in it with the word "Baldwin" which I assume
> is a maker.

Hi Thom!  I'll bet the recipient of this present will really like
it.  Piano tuners cherish their tools (kind of like VW owners, though
the five foot cheater pipes are used less frequently in the piano
world :-)  ) and a lovely old hammer with a nice wood handle
is a joy.  I don't know what the wood block with hole in it
could be for (wire bending helper?), but I'll bet there are some
rubber thingies (could have a handle on them) for damping 
strings (so you can tune the other ones), and maybe a kind of
rasp for "fluffing" the felt hammers, and maybe some little
files for shaping them.  Baldwin is an old piano company, still
in business (some people like them better than Steinway).

Cool find!  Probably a good price, too.

Mark
mjanello@umich.edu
'62 Kombi
'78 Harpsichord (Copy of a French 17th Century instrument by
	Bob Duffy, brass strings, A-415, 2x8, short octave,
	no outer case)

P.S.  A good instrument buider's shop is almost as much fun to
be in as a machine shop.  Ah, the smell of varnish and sawdust,
it's up there with machine oil, cutting fluid, and the inside
of a VW engine compartment  :-)