[CAUT] una corda click, Steinway D

[Fred Sturm]

	I have had an annoying, sporadic click in the una corda shift of our  
newer (2001) Steinway D for years. It would occur usually at the very  
beginning of pressing the pedal, but never consistently. I troubleshot  
it many, many times, thought I had solved it, put it back together,  
and there it was again. "Put it back together" is the key phrase here.  
Problem not found with key blocks in, recurs with the fall itself in  
place. It had not occurred to me that the fall itself could be a  
source. Turns out the positioning is off, so that the cut away in the  
fall is not centered over the key upstop rail. When it is open, the  
wood of the fall contacts the upstop rail a bit.
	I sanded some wood and that wasn't enough, so I installed a thin  
strip of felt to the keyblocks, where the fall touches when opened.  
Problem solved.
	BTW, in the course of troubleshooting, I found another potential  
source for noise that I hadn't expected: the bushings of the una corda  
trap lever. They are black plastic of some sort, and the bushings  
themselves were enough smaller than the hole that there was chatter,  
which could make a noise. Also, there was a small gap between the  
bushings and the wooden trap pieces that hold the pivot pin. The  
plastic is hard, and there was a lot of noise if I moved the lever  
with my hand. So I filled the gap with a felt bushing and packed  
between the bushings and the lever with some grease.
	Thought I'd share this in case it might help someone down the road.  
Nine years have passed, but the problem is finally solved. I hope <G>.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Twain