Wuritzer console

[Allan Gilreath]

Mark,

If the tuning pins hold in the pinblock when you tune then that probably
isn't the cause of the tuning instability.  Look more at the
environmental changes in the facility.  It may take a while to educate
the facility's manager that turning off the heat and cranking it up to
warm the place as fast as possible has a detrimental effect on the
tuning.  With the weather changes we've been having around here, the
finest tuning from several months ago isn't worth much now, no matter
who did it if the micro-climate hasn't been maintained. So in short, be
sure to diagnose that you have a pinblock problem before applying
anything.

As to the "thumping" unison, look for interference from the bass-most
treble damper, separated bridge cap, or something else, like a mute,
stuck in the strings.  Also be sure that they're original and not
inadequate replacements.  The best watch word is to be sure to diagnose
the problem before you start fixing it.  If you don't know the cause of
the issue, exploratory surgery can be really risky.

Allan L. Gilreath, RPT
Allan Gilreath & Associates, Inc.
515 Oothcalooga St., Suite I
Calhoun, GA 30701
agilreath@mindspring.com
 
Once you figure out the right questions to ask, the asnwers are pretty
simple.

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Mark Kinsler
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2004 7:37 PM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Wuritzer console

A while ago I had a look at a Wurlizer console piano that has suffered 
through many years in an auditorium.  It is so sadly out of tune that I 
figured I could do no harm in trying out my tuning hammer on it.  It
seemed 
to me that the tuning pins turned rather easily.  The condition seemed
to 
exist everywhere on the pinblock, so I suspect that the pinblock is not 
cracked.

I was later told that this particular instrument goes out of tune very 
quickly and that it had been professionally tuned some months earlier.
But 
from what I've read on this list, I rather doubt that a professional
tuner 
would not have attended to loose tuning pins in some way.

Nor would s/he have left one note (the first bass note left of the
break, 
two wound strings) to thump the way it does.  It sounds like the strings
of 
that note are touching something, but the hammer lets off normally and
the 
damper lifts okay and I can't see anything stuck down there.

So I have two questions:

1) Would I wreck this instrument for all eternity if I tried some of
that 
piano-tuning-pin elixir on the pinblock?  It's supposed to be great, 
according to the catalog; your tuning pin troubles will fly away like
the 
bluebird on the wing.

2) What the heck might be blocking that pair of bass strings on this
piano?  
I've had the various panels off and have stuck my head inside the
instrument 
along with a flashlight, and there don't seem to be any dropped crayons
or 
pizza boxes therein.

M Kinsler
who knows more than enough to be dangerous to both piano and mankind

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