[pianotech] Monkey Help Needed

[Ed Sutton]

This message arrived after Keith's message to which I responded.

Perhaps the action has been repaired before. Some Chickerings had a coil spring on the sostenuto monkey, which tended to misbehave. My impression is that the systems were under-engineered to make room for player systems.

So whatever you can do to make it work better should work better in this best-of-all-possible-worlds.

Good luck!

Ed S.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Carman 
  To: Pianotech Archives 
  Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 3:11 AM
  Subject: [pianotech] Monkey Help Needed


Here is more detail on my Chickering monkey problem.  The top of the monkey moves front and back when it rotates the sustenuto rod.The constraining spring in the middle acts as a fulcrum.  So then the bottom of the monkey slips off the pitman frontwards and backwards.    It does not slip off sideways because it is constrained on the sides by the guides.The monkey looks like a Steinway type, but the sustenuto mechanism is not attached to the action in this old Chickering.  So the "next poor sucker" -will- be able to pull the action.Downsizing the pitman hole will not affect the slipping of the monkey since it does not travel through the hole. Please continue with your valuable feedback. Carman Gentile RPT===================================================There's a Chickering with a Steinway style monkey? If so, how 
can it slip off the pitman when it's constrained fore and aft 
by the spring, and port and starboard by the guides? Doesn't 
geometrically compute. If you pin it to the pitman. how does 
the next poor sucker pull the action? Again, doesn't compute. 
A rational real world mechanical assessment of what's there 
will determine the fix. Perform one, or find someone who can.
Ron NCarman, List,

Ron addressed one of the following questions, but I'll say it in  
another way. After all, repetition does play a role in our lives.

If it is the monkey slipping off the pitman, is there no way that you  
can restrain the movement of the monkey fore and aft without  
restraining its function?

If the movement of the pitman Is causing the monkey to slip off, is  
there no way that you can downsize the hole the pitman travels through  
to minimize the fore and aft movement?

Or possibly a combination of both?

Keith
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