D

[David M. Porritt]

Kent:

You've got to be honest/candid with them.  Some of what you described
is really pretty Mickey Mouse.  I'd bet the wippens are Hamburg
Steinway (Renner, but without the screw adjustment).  The jiffy leads
might have been put on to improve repetition (keys that heavy really
jump back up.)  

I just know that any time I haven't been fully candid about what's
there it has usually come back to bite me in an inappropriate place.
You don't have to disparage the rebuilders, just tell what you've
found.  They can draw their own conclusions.

Sounds like a full action rebuild is necessary.

dave

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 9/5/2003 at 8:00 PM Kent Swafford wrote:

>The local junior college has the finest concert hall in the area.
Their 
>house piano has been an SD-10 that they picked up cheap when the
hall 
>was opened. They have known that they needed a D, and last year they

>finally got one, a 30 year old rebuilt one. It was rebuilt by a
known 
>company in NY. It has been in place perhaps 9 months, and played in 
>public 4 times. That sounds like they might be aware that there is a

>problem with the instrument, but to hear them tell it, it is simply 
>that the final prep wasn't done after delivery as promised because
the 
>tech who would have done that wasn't traveling in the wake of 9-11.
>
>Anyway, I was called out to see the piano.
>
>Downweight measured 75 grams, + or -.
>
>I found jiffy leads, attached to the underside of many of the keys, 
>_behind_ the balance rail. I removed them, thinking that I was about
to 
>find the reason that they were added in the first place. I still 
>haven't a clue. Maybe the rebuilder didn't either...  (Anybody care
to 
>speculate on why they were put there?)
>
>Downweight now measures 65 grams, + or -.
>
>The action parts appeared to be Renner, with real Steinway hammers,
but 
>the wips do not have screw-adjustable rep springs, so the parts 
>couldn't be very new(?) Maybe the rebuild wasn't all that recent and

>the piano hadn't sold(?)
>
>The back action had been replaced with a Renner kit, but with
dampers 
>only going up to E6, not up to G6 that is normal in Ds.
>
>Most of the capstans were off the edge of the capstan felt, some 
>grossly so, so the action is not aligned properly.
>
>I have improved the spacing of the wips in relation to the capstans,

>and re-timed the dampers to lift properly (they were lifting too
early, 
>contributing to the heavy action), and have done normal friction 
>reduction.
>
>Now the piano is at least playable. Before, the piano wouldn't
really 
>play above mezzo-piano. Now there is at least a forte.
>
>The question, of course, is, "What do I tell the customer?"
>
>The action really needs to start over, with proper geometry, and the

>proper number of dampers, but...
>
>the piano could probably get by with just some weight reduction in
the 
>action/hammers.
>
>The stringing and refinish appear to be pretty darn good. The
action, 
>however, is a mess.
>3 less dampers than other Ds?
>
>Any ideas?
>
>Thanks for letting me think "out loud".
>
>Kent Swafford
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>caut list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives

**************** END MESSAGE FROM  Kent Swafford *********************
_____________________________
David M. Porritt
dporritt@mail.smu.edu
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275
_____________________________