Horugel Grand

[Roger Jolly]

Hi Avery,
               This vintage of Samick product has the flaking centre pin
problem, for some reason the under levers always show the symptom first,
hence the damper head aches.
Most of the problems will be centre pin related. 
No other fix, than to ream the bushings, and re centre pin to #21's.  You
have to get the garbage out of the bushings to attain reliability.
However the strike weight is usually far to high, #1 Bass hammer will weigh
about 13gms.
I installed a set of Tokai shanks and Abel hammers on this model some time
ago, My records showed that I changed #1 bass hammer weight down to 9.5gms
first tenor was down to 7.75gms.
After repinning the wips and under levers, the piano supervised the heck
out of me.
Some weight off was required.

Well worth doing in my case.

The trap work is a constant head ache.  Re bush the felt bushings with high
quality woven felt, and impregnate with melted paraffin wax. Next, smear
the pins in a thin coat of oil and tighten the pin holes in the trap levers
with CA glue. 
Drill a set screw hole thro the lever to the pin hole, and install a set
screw to stop the pin from walking out.  You will have cured the squeaks
and groans from this area. Rebush the pedal rods to stop them sliding
around. Same goes for all the bushings in the pedal box.  Melt paraffin wax
into the felt and leather. The graphite material that was used seems to
cause many of the problems.

Hope this of some help.
Regards roger 



At 02:09 PM 28/07/00 -0500, you wrote:
>List,
>
>   Just wondered if any of you have any
>experience with the "horrible Horugels"?
>We have a 7' version and I was wondering
>if it would be worth some action work to
>put it into a teacher's studio, not a
>piano teacher and not a heavy use situation.
>   The only particular problems I've noticed
>so far is sluggishness in the action and some
>kind of problem with the damper system,
>keeping the pedal working. Haven't looked into
>it much yet but will need to soon.
>   Thanks for any ideas/suggestions. Besides
>using it for a planter, Conrad. :-)
>
>Avery
> 
Roger Jolly
Saskatoon, Canada.
306-665-0213
Fax 652-0505