SPINET OUT OF CONTROL

[James Dally]

James:  I'm very interested in your story.  What happened that the action
being taken out created the need to regulate.  I've never had this happen
and I am looking for signs that will warn me to not remove an action in
certain cases.  Many thanks.  Jim Dally

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> I performed a Pitch Raise/Tuning on an old Wurlitzer Spinet (1969).  It
> took about 3 hours and was difficult at best because the piano was very
> unstable (probably due to not being tuned in years), and when trying to
> fine tune a string, it would jump from sharp to flat (i.e. the tuning
> pins were sloppy).
>   Satisfied that I had performed the tuning to the best of my ability, I
> promptly wrote out my standard Pitch Raise bill ($90.00), when the owner
> informed me that "one of the keys was sticking."  Sure enough, one of
> the keys was sluggish (something I didn't notice during the tuning."
>   While peering through the action at the offensive key, I notice that
> the jack was offset, and while playing the key, I realized that the
> broken/misplaced jack was the culprit.
>   Then I did something REALLY STUPID.  I took the action out of the
> piano.  Sure enough, the pin holding the jack in the whippen had come
> loose, and securing the pin was easy.  What wasn't easy was putting the
> action back in, and REGULATING IT!  Two days later, and a broken key
> (from screwing down a sticker screw too tight), I finally had the piano
> adjusted close enough to where it played as well as it did before.
>   MY QUESTION IS THIS - when working on a piano that is worth $200 tops,
> where do you draw the line when it comes to repair work?  I mean, it
> seems to me that there is an element of risk involved when working on a
> piano that is close to junk quality.
>   In time and money, I lost big time on this one!!!