How to adjust let-off with no adjustable capstan?

[John Ross]

Hi Marcel,
In a normal situation, I would have made your suggestion and left.
It is my Legion, where they got the piano for free, and I tune it yearly for 
free. It is not used much, is a wreck, and not worth putting money into.
I am just keeping it operational for the occasional player, especially at 
Remembrance/ Veterans day, when there might be a sing song.
It is doing what they want for the price they want.
I had just thought that I had overlooked something, and there might be a 
special tool.
I thought that the piano, being made in New York, that someone else might 
have run into the same problem.
Anyway, thank you to all, for your suggestions.
Best regards,
John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marcel Carey" <mcpiano@videotron.ca>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 7:18 AM
Subject: RE: How to adjust let-off with no adjustable capstan?


> John,
>
> my first recommendation was and still is to replace with normal
> capstans. But, if the piano is not worth the work, you could just glue
> pieces of keybushing felt, leather, or anything that's the right
> thickness under the wippen's sticker.
>
> But you could still tell them the piano has ended it's useful life and
> just refuse to work on it. Why make yourself responsible for a
> situation that can't be changed?
>
> Marcel Carey,RPT
> Sherbrooke, QC
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org]On
>> Behalf Of John Ross
>> Sent: June 25, 2005 2:32 AM
>> To: tcole@cruzio.com; Pianotech
>> Subject: Re: How to adjust let-off with no adjustable capstan?
>>
>>
>> Unfortunately, they seem to be rusted in place.
>> Thanks.
>> John M. Ross
>> Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
>> jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Thomas Cole" <tcole@cruzio.com>
>> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
>> Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 11:18 PM
>> Subject: Re: How to adjust let-off with no adjustable capstan?
>>
>>
>> > John,
>> >
>> > You may have the best solution for the circumstance, but
>> it occurs to me
>> > that these "nails" may be a bit loose in the key stick by
>> now. I mean, how
>> > much of an interference fit could there be to start with,
>> and then wood
>> > shrinkage / grain crush? So a little hard playing and it
>> knocks the
>> > capstans into the wood and you have lost motion.
>> >
>> > I have this fantasy that you could raise the capstans
>> with a small pry bar
>> > and tap them down with a hammer to just right - you'd
>> have to pull each
>> > key a time or two for the tapping. Then fix the whole set
>> of them with
>> > some thin CA glue. Might be how they did it in the
>> factory ('cept for the
>> > CA).
>> >
>> > Tom Cole
>> >
>> > John Ross wrote:
>> >
>> >> Unfortunately Ron, I can't escape this one. It is one
>> that was donated to
>> >> my Legion, and I tune it for free, once a year.
>> >> I was hoping a special tool was available.
>> >> It is playable, just a few need the excess lost motion taken out.
>> >> I don't tune it again till next November. I will go the
>> cheap, free to
>> >> them way, of gluing something onto the "capstans", for
>> the real bad ones.
>> >> If the rest of the piano was in good shape, I would
>> donate installation
>> >> of capstans. But it is not, so cheap is the way to go.
>> >> I am surprised, that no one else has run into a piano,
>> with this excuse
>> >> for a capstan.
>> >> John M. Ross
>> >> Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
>> >> jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
>> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Nossaman"
>> <rnossaman@cox.net>
>> >> To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
>> >> Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 6:10 PM
>> >> Subject: Re: How to adjust let-off with no adjustable capstan?
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>>> Hi Ron.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Bah, and then, if you were a sculptor, would you
>> choose clay (sooo
>> >>>> easy) or marble (sooo difficult) for your next
>> masterpiece ?  What
>> >>>> would you
>> >>>> make tend toward one or the other material ?
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> I'd chose the clay for playing with, and the marble for
>> the finished
>> >>> work (unless I cast the clay in bronze), but this is an
>> entirely
>> >>> different thing. We aren't making a masterpiece with
>> this old capstan
>> >>> challenged upright. It's a no pay, maximum aggravation,
>> zero expectation
>> >>> lost cause that realistically passed it's life expectancy many
>> >>> (manymanymany) years ago. If I was trapped into
>> adjusting lost motion in
>> >>> this critter, I'd just cut my losses, add real
>> capstans, and escape as
>> >>> quickly, cheaply, and thoroughly as possible with a
>> promise to myself to
>> >>> do everything I could to avoid being in that situation
>> again. It doesn't
>> >>> always work, naturally, because we always eventually
>> find ourselves in
>> >>> another no win situation. It's the nature of us.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>> Beware, as the answer on this question will tell much
>> about the
>> >>>> intimate you.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Too late! I'm exposed.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> No peeking.
>> >>>
>> >>> Ron N
>> >>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>>
>> >>
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>> >>
>> >
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>
>
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