squeaky, creaky pedal puzzler---SOLVED!

[Dean May]

Here's another one of those fixes that you learn at great cost. So how do
you charge for the next one? Now that you know to look there the next one
will only take you 10 minutes instead of 90. But you can't just charge for
the 10 minutes. You should recoup your initial investment of time. You'll
probably only run across 5 of these in your entire career (I've only seen
one maybe two in 25 years). So that is 90/5=18, 18 minutes have to be added
on to the 10 minutes it takes you the next 5 times to recover your
investment of time in learning this fix. In other words, to be profitable in
the long term, you must charge for 28 minutes the next 5 times you do this
repair instead of the actual 10 that it takes you. 

 

Dean

Dean May             cell 812.239.3359 

PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272 

Terre Haute IN  47802

  _____  

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Tom Sivak <mailto:tvaktvak at sbcglobal.net>  

To: Mark Wisner <mailto:mwisner at earthlink.net>  ; Pianotech List
<mailto:pianotech at ptg.org>  

Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 9:10 PM

Subject: Re: squeaky, creaky pedal puzzler---SOLVED!

 

Mark Wisner <mwisner at earthlink.net> wrote:

Action bracket moving on the stud or bolt.

Mark Wisner

 

This was basically it.  The problem was that the bolt that you attach the
action to (at the top) was too high in the treble.  Every time you raised
the damper lift rod with the pedal, the action would torque with the upward
pressure, and when you released the pedal, it would make that creaky sound.
I noticed that when the action was bolted in place, I could take hold of the
far right action bracket and move it in and out.  I originally thought there
were loose screws on the action rails but this proved to not be the case.
It was actually the entire action that moved upward when the pedal was
depressed.

The solution was to lower the bolt, (I used a hammer to bend it downward
slightly) so that it held the action in place more firmly and the creak went
away.   

 

I'm surprised at how many of you were either very close or on the money.  As
I solved this one, I came across so many things that seemed like they were
probably the cause, and eliminating each one finally led me to examine the
fit of the action in the piano.  But I never heard of this one before.  

 

Hey, I'm just happy I figured it out and was able to satisfy the customer.
The bill for eliminating this squeak?  (90 minutes @ $...?)  

 

This was a piano that I sold to this client.  The sale included a free
tuning in the home and a guarantee.  I don't mind.  Nine times out of ten a
drop of Protek and I go home.  So this time it took a little longer.  She
offered to pay me but I refused.  Having the problem solved, I can look back
on it and say I enjoyed the challenge.  And I was able to find a few other
little problems along the way and solve them before they created any more
trouble down the line.

 

Thanks for your responses.  

 

Tom S

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