slow returning hammers

[Paul McCloud]

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My experience is that the dehumidifier is for prevention, not for cure
of an existing problem.   

My suggestion is to remove the action and find out where the excess
friction is coming from.  I had a very sluggish action that I removed
from a piano and kept in the back of my truck (sunny San Diego) to dry
out.  After a few weeks, it was as good as new. This may not be
practical for you, so you could also build a drying box with some
dampchasers inside, or lamps, for heat, and dry the action in it.
Gentle heat over a longer time is better than higher heat for shorter
time.  If the action has been in humid conditions for an extended
period, even drying it may not cure the sluggishness.  

Putting Protek on the action centers and working the parts back and
forth may polish the centerpins  enough to remove corrosion from the
pins.  Otherwise repinning may be necessary.

Sometimes the felt on the damper becomes cupped where the spoons contact
it.  Corrosion on the spoons sometimes digs holes in the felt.  You will
have to look carefully from underneath the action to see this.  Lift the
damper away from the spoon, or remove it.  The felt may not be durable
enough, and replacement would be necessary.  Be sure to polish the
spoons if this is the case.

Of course, I'm assuming that your keys are not swollen.  Besides easing
the key bushings, size the balance holes too.  And check the keypins for
corrosion at the bottom of the pins.  Moisture collects there and
corrodes them.

Hope this helps.

            Paul McCloud

            San Diego 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Alpha88x@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:32 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: slow returning hammers

 

Greetings,

            I went to a home where there was a Chickering console piano
that the hammers return at a snail's pace after the key is struck. I
suggested that the hammer bushings around their center pins may be
swelled due to humidity resulting in tightness and friction causing the
slow motion return.  He had a heater bar in the piano and I suggested
that he plug it in to dry up some moisture. He did. Two weeks later he
calls and tells me it only helped allittle and the thing is still
unplayable. 

             I am thinking that the only thing left to do is to bring
the action home and put it near a radiator so they dry out, and give
each pin a shot of protek. Any other suggestions? 

thanks,
Julia Gottchall,
Reading, PA 






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