old Bechstein

[Robert Hohf]

Dennis,

I've been out of town for a few days on spring break, so excuse me for
chiming in a little late.  I've rebuilt 3 Bechsteins with this sort of
action, and did the sort of modification you mention on the first one.  It
was a long time ago (about 1977) and a lot has happened since then,
including (hopefully) improvement in my own skills and standards.  As I
recall the blocks I installed were about 3/4" high.  I can't believe that
raising the capstans that much doesn't significantly change the arc of
travel.  In those days the new Renner parts weren't readily available, so I
modified the old wippens by filling the wippen heal and applying a cushion.
My recollection of the results is that they were no better than "OK".  In
the other two I restored the original arrangement and installed new shanks
and hammers.  They are also OK, but the regulation is unstable and the
actions are quite noisy (in spite of many hours spent tracking down and
eliminating clicks).

Another consideration today is that Renner no longer makes the Schwander
wippen.  As with all action parts that have been in production for a long
time, the dimensions of the Schwander wippens are a little different in
different vintages.  The dimensions of the parts that Renner USA provides as
replacements for the Schwander wippens (part #913010) might be quite
different from your originals.

I believe that the best fix for this sort of piano today would be to start
over with all new action, keys and keyframe.  This would require lowering
the string height about 1 cm with all of the other related changes.  I've
quoted this job, but not had a taker.

Regards,

Bob Hohf, RPT
Editor, Piano Technicians Journal
voice:  262-495-8058
fax:      262-495-2983
Editor@ptg.org

ps No, I don't want the job.



>
>
> Thanks for all the imput. These whippens are in bad shape, so it's not an
> easy call, but we like to do what we can for appreciative, serious
> customers. I am inclined to decline the job entirely at the moment, as it
> was also (rebuilt) not so long ago and left with plenty of other problems
> as well. I was just wondering if anyone had tried to do a modification
> like that, and if so, how it went.  Let me know if you want the job.
> Ha....
>
> Sometimes it's a hard call to know when enough is enough, and harder still
> to break the news. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm just not that interested in
> trying to patch up really old parts on which I can't guarantee
> satisfaction.
>
>
> Dennis Johnson
>