Case Study.. just got an action in for rebuild. Its going to need new hammers and rollers (knuckles), action felt, bushings, centers (maybe new hammershanks). Its a J.L. Duysen serial number 12517 which the owner says was built in 1913. Couple things of note.. ivoriers are white as can be and still shinning brightly. No cracks anywhere to be seen in the soundboard / bridge / pinblock. Its a three quarter plate with the pin block completely exposed.. just a three extensions of the plate ...er...whateryacallem...grin.. struts..! thats it..:) to hold the thing down. Its at A436 and hasnt been tuned for 11 years. OK... nough of all that. Its the action I am first and formost concerned with. This is strange indeed. Its very heavy..clunckly heavy. The spread is wide.. about 5 mm at note 88 and about 2 mm at note 1. Cant move the whippen rail in much or the front/top of the whippens will start hanging on the hammer rail. This looks like a great chance to start getting really familiar with some basic action redesign.. :):) I'll get my stanwood measure kit out fromt the UiB tommorrow and get some basic samples measured and also measure some action part distances. Rollers for example look like they are a long way from the hammer centers. Anyways I'll get all this up and posted by Saturday and see what you all think about this puppy. Would be fun to do this job along side of the advice and counsel of the esteemed and emminently learned subscribers of this list...:) -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. Bergen, Norway
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