Do you always remove the action to file/ shape hammers in a spinet? I ask because I read here once that we should never remove a spinet action unless absolutely necessary. I now understand that edict. With good faith and naive optimism, I fully intended to remove the action on a Wurlitzer ca. 1950 spinet. I unscrewed the action bracket bolts, I unscrewed the little screws holding the front edge down at the back of the keybed, I even unscrewed the brace on the fallboard slide to make more room; then I tried pulling the little puppy out. Yikes. I couldn't get it to come out. I could get it moving up and it felt like it was coming out, but then it would stop, like there was something I missed or it was snagging somewhere. But I couldn't find what was holding it back. I could get it up about 3 or 4 inches or so, but then it seemed to catch. Looking up from underneath, I couldn't see the problem. It wasn't any of the peddle dowels-I've seen them screwed in at the top before, but that wasn't the case here, they just fell off. But, I have to say, just getting it back in from this position without doing any damage was hard enough-it seemed nearly cunning in its willingness to move in every direction but up or straight back down-and it was all I could do to keep from ripping the dampers all to hell. To make a long story short, I filed and shaped the hammers with the action in place. (Faux pas)? I think I did a pretty good job, but getting to the back of the hammers at the correct angle was a bear. And of course, I worried about the felt dust getting all over the place. I was careful and even placed rags around the bottom of the shanks to block as much as I could, and when I was done, I (carefully) blew and (vigorously) vacuumed and I think I got most if not all of it out. I think I did a decent job on the hammers-standard grove wear taken care of, the hammer shape looks pretty good, all strings make contact. And it tuned up ok after the work too, although I can't swear that I didn't mess up some strike points just a little, esp. in the area just after the treble break-there are some subtle false beats that may or may not have been there prior to the hammer work. So, I guess my question is twofold: Is it ok to attempt to shape hammers in a spinet with the action in place? And what might have been the problem with this action snagging, what was I missing? Something obvious I fear. I imagine I will eventually have to remove one of these actions-thought I dread the thought. Thanks in advance, Gary -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090824/48ad8098/attachment.htm>
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