Weaver lost motion

[Clyde Hollinger]

John,

Since the Weaver piano was manufactured in York, PA, and I live about 25
miles away, I get to service several of these.  If you look closely, you
will see that there is a pivot point between the two screws that attach the
rocker arm to the key.  These screws are used to take up lost motion.

To decrease lost motion, loosen the screw farthest from you and tighten the
one closest to you by an equal amount.  That will raise the "business end"
of the rocker arm.  Keep working at it until you get it where you want it to
be.  Be a little gentle; you don't want to break any more of them, even if
you don't consider the piano worth salvaging.  (How did one of these babies
make it all the way to SD?!  <G>)

Regards,
Clyde Hollinger, RPT

John Voigt wrote:

> I was called to give an evaluation on an old spinet piano yesterday.  I
> found a 1945 Weaver spinet.  It was something I had never seen in my
> limited experience.  Instead of the usual drop stickers and elbows it
> had rocker arms made of pot metal (I think) that were screwed to the
> back of the keys and then dropped down and underneath the wippens.
> Three of these rocker arms had broken and the owner, who is looking to
> rid herself of the piano, had robbed arms from the extreme high and low
> ends and replaced the broken ones.  I informed her that I had never seen
>
> any such thing and I was sure I could not get parts for it.  It also had
>
> large amounts of lost motion causing insufficient travel for the wippen
> and bobbling hammers.  I did not see any way to adjust lost motion other
>
> than gluing some type of felt or something to the top of this rocker arm
>
> or the bottom of the wippen.
>
> When I got home, to my surprise, I found that Schaff does show a 'Weaver
>
> Bi-level Rocker Arm' in their catalog.  While I still do not consider
> the piano worth salvaging, out of curiosity I was wondering if there was
> a simpler way to eliminate lost motion in this creation that I missed.
> Anyone tried it?
>
> John Voigt
> PTG Associate
> Avon, SD
>
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