Digital Player Systems: Long!

[Rob Kiddell]

Greetings List,

	I've been servicing PianoDisc for a couple of years now, and I've
found that >properly maintained< systems are the most trouble-free.
This includes regular tuning and regulation adjustments on new
instruments, as well as adjusting note calibration data on the
player unit with each tuning or service call. Last night I was in a
restaraunt with a Young Chang PianoDisc and it was out of tune,
notes were playing at inconsistent volumes and the overall volume was
loud (I checked the unit as I passed by).
	Unfortunately, too often these units are sold like stereos, with no
thought given to service, and no education given to the client as to
the proper ownership or maintainence of an acoustic piano. On one
service call, the customer was overjoyed that I could get the
overall volume of the unit quieter, yet the piano was grossly
out of tune, and she maintained that she liked it that way. You
should have heard it with the synthesized accompaniment.
Yeeeech!
	With a mention to Ed Foote's earlier post,  there is keybed and
keyframe modification involved in installing these beasts. I've just
returned from a week-long course at the Baldwin grand plant in
Conway, AK for certification on the Concertmaster digital player
system. This is essentially the QRS solenoid rail setup, with Baldwin
control electronics and an optional Gulbransen record rail. This is
an 80 note plyer setup, and the main modification you make is
removing 1 1/4 inches from the back rail on the keyframe, and cutting
a 2" slot in the keybed to allow the solenoids (which are mounted
underneath the keybed) to pass through and contact the backs of the
keys. The cuts to the keyframe is only under the backs of the keys
contacted by the solenoids, and the dagblocks are removed and
re-seated on the ends and uncut center sections of the keyframe. I
voiced my concerns over key-frame bedding, and was brought to where
the factory had installed a unit on an SF-10 (7'). I checked
the action, pulled the stack, and tapped and poked around. The
keyframe was solidly bedded on the back (where the slots were) and
knocked slightly on the front (they use frame glides on the keybed in
the front - a process I dislike). The verdict? There is not a major
problem to regulation caused by >proper< installation of these units.
Proper installation includes full regulation. The systems function
better with closely regulated actions. Hence Baldwin's initiative to
train technicians (required with prior piano regulation experience)
to install the units. It was repeatedly stressed that piano
regulation was as important as the electronics to keep these units
playing optimally.
	As an endnote, the pedal modifications were challenging, but we used
the original  blocks to hinge the trapwork. The kit does supply some
stamped steel flanges to mount pedal hardware in tight spaces, but we
(and the factory technicians) don't use them. The damper trapwork was
removed, and a bent steel lift-bar installed, which hinges behind the
key-solenoid rail, and  is directly connedted to the inderlever tray
by an adjustable rod. It can be engaged by the pedal (the lyre and
pedal rods are unmodified) or by the pedal solenoid mounted to the
belly of the piano and contacts the far end of the lift-bar. The
modification of the bar was straightforward, the original wooden
trapwork flanges were used, and the whole damper system was as solid
as the old trap system. The una corda remained unchanged, the keybed
cut doesn't go far enough forward to remove the slot in the keyframe
that the pitman arm engages. The sostenuto monkey also remained
unchanged, but the bottom of the wooden monkey was attached to a
cable system, triggered by the sostenuto pedal rod, the only part of
the pedal modification that I found poorly thought-out. The folks at
the factory agreed, and there is some modification ideas underway.
	These systems seem here to stay, and we should have as much
knowledge in servicing them as we can get. As for removing them, I
mentioned that the keybed cut should be bevelled, so that the cut
piece can be replaced if need be. The back-rail of the keyframe
would have to be replaced if you wanted to, but the pianos I checked
out were solid.

Whew!
I've got 545 more messages to go - welcome home from holidays!

Regards,


Rob Kiddell
R.P.T., P.T.G.
C.A.P.T. Student
Edmonton, Canada
http://www.planet.eon.net/~atonal/atonal.html