A customer with a nicely rebuilt Steinway "B" called and asked me to fix a "dead" note. He said the key moves up and down, but feels light. The hammer does not move, and is slightly lower than the others. I arrive a few days later, and the note in question (G#6) now functions normally. The hammer flange pinning was tight in most of octave 6 (one or two swings, which I fixed), but even if the flange was frozen, that would have locked the hammer up at the string, not down on the rest felt. The wippen was slightly misaligned toward the G6 wippen, very close, but not rubbing. I fixed that. But even if the wippens were catching on each other, it seems like that would have locked the hammer up, not down. I played the note repeatedly, scales, chords, etc. No problem. I figured I fixed it, though didn't know how. Started tuning, worked up to G#6 and gave it a good test blow. It went "dead" again. Just as the customer had described. I pulled the action and removed the wippen, and the cause was obvious. WHAT WAS IT? Hints: It was not a foreign object jamming the works. The wippen was not unglued or otherwise broken in any way. This probably would never have happened on anything but the newer style wippens. I'm about to give you the answer, so stop reading if you want to figure it out yourself. See the attached drawing from the Renner catalog. The wippen has the handy new adjustment screw for the repetition spring. The screw on this note was run down several turns more than others on the piano. The plastic spring-bearing on the bottom of the screw was catching on the jack regulating spoon after a very hard blow. The hammer was checking very low. The rep lever was being pushed down too far by the knuckle and sticking. The jack could not return, but the hammer, wippen, and key dropped back down, with the shank resting on the cushion, and the jack against the proximal side of the knuckle. Fix: Adjust backcheck for proper increasing resistance and checking distance. Back off rep spring screw and increase spring strength the old way. Bend the jack regulating spoon slightly, and then realign the jack with knuckle core. Test: Much like testing for backcheck clearance, push down on the key and hammer at the same time. After letoff, see if you can push the hammer down on the rep lever far enough to make the lever stick. That was a first for me. Maybe everyone else has already been there and done that. Greg Graham Brodheadsville, PA __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: renner wippen 1.jpg Type: image/pjpeg Size: 40767 bytes Desc: 2199606442-renner wippen 1.jpg Url : https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20060604/dddd8e93/attachment-0001.bin
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