List, I took on one of those jobs today that I will probably wish I hadn't, a small Lester grand built in 1938 according to the serial number. The customer bought the piano at an estate sale, after having two tuners tell her it was tunable. It is, but it's almost unplayable as there are a lot of other problems to correct. Primarily extreme sluggishness in the hammer flanges (so probably in the wippens & damper flanges, too) and regulation. I've already tried Protek on a couple of test hammer flanges and they went from app. 1/2 swing to 8-10 swings after working it in good. I'm going to leave them overnight and see what they do tomorrow. I sure would like not to have to repin everything! The hammers are shot, so I'll file them the best I can but I told her all I could promise was that the piano would be decently playable and in tune (1/2 step raise). I've already pulled it up once to make sure what was going to happen. Only one string broke, so I think I'll be OK there. Now, one minor question. Is there an "official" reference point to regulate the jack position (front to back) under the knuckle with "tear-drop" type knuckles? Or would the best way be to just regulate it forward until it escapes under pressure (holding the hammer down while pressing on the key) then moving it back slightly? For once, just a simple question :-) that anyone with experience on this type of knuckle can answer. Thanks. Avery P.S. I haven't had a chance yet to try the suggestions made about my "double striking hammers" problem on the Hamburg D. I got, yet again, some very good ideas on things to check. I'll probably probably do it during Spring Break. I'm putting the piano out of commission for that week to rebush the keys with leather (I'm tired of having to rebush every 1-1/2 to 2 yrs.), so I'll take a good look then at the things suggested for the other problem. I'll do a follow-up in case anyone else might be interested. Thanks again to all those who responded. _____________________________________ Avery Todd, RPT Moores School of Music University of Houston 713-743-3226 atodd@uh.edu http://www.uh.edu/music/ _____________________________________
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