Floppy Fallboard dilemma

[John M. Formsma]

Ken,

I've seen pieces of felt and/or rubber mute wedged between the fallboard 
and an arm.

Perhaps you could tel them how much they would have to pay you to think 
through the problem, design a permanent, aesthetic solution, then 
mention that well-placed mute again. ;-)

JF

Kenneth Jankura wrote:
> Help!
> I tune a  Yamaha GB1 grand in a church.
> I received a call a while back that the pianist is unhappy that the 
> fallboard is so loose it falls on her hands.
> I stopped by to check it out, and this mechanism is a little different 
> from the G series grands.
> It is spring metal that is circular and follows a leather covered 
> circular mortice in the side of the fallboard.
> I tightened the spring tension by wedging the spring with a piece of 
> hammer felt under the bottom of the two screws, effectively making it 
> push against the leather harder. I could feel that it held better in 
> the up position.
> No go. Another call, fallboard still keeps falling on the pianist's 
> hands.
> I went back and carved some hammer felt and glued it to the inside of 
> the case, in just the right spot so when the fallboard is  raised, it 
> puts a lot of pressure when it is in the up position. I felt I had to 
> use quite a bit of force to place the fallboard in the up position. 
> Permanently fixed.
> Of course, I just got the call that the pianist has once again removed 
> the fallboard because it keeps falling on her hands. What is going on? 
> The music director and I joked we might need a gate-type latch to 
> satisfy this situation.
> What should I do? What has worked for you in the past? How do you 
> redesign a floppy fallboard???
>
> P.S. I suggested a well placed tuning mute...
>
> Ken Jankura RPT
> Newville, PA
>
>