>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< Frank - This sounds like a very practical and doable plan of action, plus it's a new procedure to try, which I always enjoy. I'll let you know how it turns out. The piano by the way is a 10k restoration - much sentimental value to the owner. He understands what he could buy in the way of a new piano for that sum, and chose to have this piano worked on. His intention is to have the piano transported to his fishing lodge in Minnesota on Leech Lake. In that setting, I think it will be a great piano. I gave a list of what I knew needed to be done (we did agree on a few cost cutting limitations - shimming the original soundboard as opposed to a new soundboard, hand-fitted molded keytops as opposed to ivory, etc.), and told him that in addition to the listed items, for that amount I would cover whatever else I ran into along the way. As far as the price is concerned, there would be no surprises. At this point, with the amount of work already involved, and as nice as it is shaping up, I don't want to leave something unattended to that needs attention. It's really my fault that when I looked at the piano in the factory where it was being stored, I didn't dig down to the bottom of the mouse debris to ascertain the condition of the keyframe. Oh, well. Live and learn. Chuck -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091111/f64a8e78/attachment.htm>
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