Chuck, I'm guessing that the rodent contamination has also ruined the balance rail key bushings. I'm also guessing that there maybe rust at the bottom of the balance pins, potentially enlarging the balance hole in the bottom of the key, once pulled free of the rust. If these are the case, I would consider the following. Route a channel in the bottom of the keys to install a new hardwood boot at the balance rail of each key. Drill through the old front rail (not the balance rail), with a drill small enough to just mark the location in the new front rail pins without enlarging the old front rail holes. Assemble the new front rail to the other members of the new keyframe. Install front rail pins, rebush only the front pin bushings in the keys. If you are replacing key buttons remove the old buttons. If you're only rebushing, remove the old bushings. Maybe a section at a time, place the keys on the new keyframe, clamped to the frame and to each other, insuring proper spacing and alignment to the action scale.Drill from the top through the new key boots and balance rail in one operation. Use stops to insure the natural balance pins are in a perfectly straight line, and the same for the sharps. This allows you to redrill the keys and drill the balance rail together for perfect alignment. That's a lot of work, but it sounds like you are up to it. On the other hand, is the piano worth it? Frank Emerson ----- Original Message ----- From: Chuck Behm To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 1:31 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] New keyframe >Making a new set of rails or keyframe with old keys is a logistical and fixturing nightmare, the keys are separate. My advice, if your going to make a new one don't destroy the old one in the process, you may need it. Good luck, Mike< Mike - Thanks for the cautious advise. I'll look the old frame over and see if less drastic repairs are tenable. If I do go the route of trying to build a new keyframe, I won't throw anything away until I'm sure the new one works with the old keys. Chuck -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091111/1c0a756a/attachment.htm>
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