Wooden Steinway

[Kent Swafford]

Arlie D. Rauch wrote:

>Dear List,
>
>In about a month I will be tuning Steinway grand #B467866.  This piano is 
>in a middle school auditorium and is not played very much.
>
>No one who plays it likes it, and neither do I.  The one word I would use 
>to describe it is "wooden."  When you play, it feels like the hammers 
>(perhaps actually the keys) are hitting wood.  The pedals seem to not move 
>very far and also feel like they are hitting wood.  Otherwise the piano 
>sounds ok and looks great.
>
>I am wondering whether there is anything I can do short of the heroic and 
>miraculous to make the piano seem friendlier.  It would be nice if I could 
>give you a more scientific description, but this is the best I can do for 
>now.
>
>Does anyone have any suggestions?

Repairs are neither heroic nor miraculous, but rather are all in a day's 
work. Pull the action and take a look. Since both the keys and pedals are 
involved, one might look at the damper action. For one example among many 
possible explanations, if the felt of the damper upstop rail for one 
reason or another was missing, the damper underlevers might indeed be 
"hitting wood" both when keys or the damper pedal are depressed.

Kent Swafford

PS It's OK to infer a bit of heroism and miracle-working when writing up 
your bill.  :)