Dear Jim; We had a dealer locally who sold  russian pianos for a while under a dutch name. As their tuner is not a tech I'm occasionally called in for tech assistance. Keys had to be eased and some front rail pins moved. What I discovered was that the keyframe had the density of cheesecake. Front rail and balance rail would crush/splinter at the least disturbance. Keys were also soft and frail, causing the "sticking" and warping in the first place. I suspect a pandora's box. Nancy Salmon RPT Frostburg State University, Maryland <div class="gmail_quote">On Jan 16, 2008 12:06 AM, Jim Harvey <<a href="mailto:harvey.pianotech@gmail.com"> harvey.pianotech@gmail.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">This is not a CAUT matter, but I'd like to request some options OTHER than my first couple of instincts -- those include landfill and marshmallow roast. The "piano" (being overly generous) is a J Becker. Means nothing? Okay, an approximately 10-year old Russian-made studio. First service call, touch resistance was like that of a kitchen table. Did not explore causes at the time. Second call followed a visit by the grand-children, who reportedly "broke something". Enter Harvey, thinking broken keystick, jack saddle, or other. NOT. One of the capstans was sheared off level with the keystick. More investigation revealed that capstans are 1) non-standard size, requiring a crescent wrench on the shoulder; 2) are pot metal, complete with casting seam lines; 3) threading on screw portion are course thread -- wood screw style; 4) screw body seems to be thinnest at point of entry in keys. Even on the first call, before this experience, I had planted seeds for a replacement piano, despite its short service life. Not sure at the moment whether that option will be taken. You see where this is going... I'm not unfamiliar with pot metal capstans, but other times I could remove them. I can likely find appropriate replacement capstans, do any necessary plugging and drilling, and so forth. It's dealing with an entire set of potentially sheared off stubs that's the problem. How can I be sure of the potential? On the obviously broken one, the homeowner, an accomplished word-worker who builds grandfather clocks, was going to attempt removing the stub. After he left for his shop, I discovered the pot metal, stopped his pursuits, and let HIM try to unscrew another capstan. It snapped off. A chapter member suggested killing off (breaking) the existing capstans, and starting a line of new capstans adjacent to the old. I don't know whether this would work, and if so, whether it might make the touch weight even worse. I thought of nuking the existing caps with a soldering iron, even at the expense of charring the wood, to help removal. Somehow through all of this, I keep envisioning the metal equivalent of a plug cutter for wood, but don't think such a thing exists. Any similar experiences/solutions out there, or am I just over-reacting? -- Jim Harvey, RPT <<a href="mailto:harvey.pianotech@gmail.com">harvey.pianotech@gmail.com </a>> <<a href="http://www.harveypiano.com" target="_blank">www.harveypiano.com</a>> </blockquote></div>