James Dally wrote: > > 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 > > ---------- > > 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!!! Jim, There were no signs that the action would need the kind of work that I put into it to get it "playable again." I first realized that there was a problem though, when I put the action back in and it wouldn't line up correctly. IN FACT, ONE OF THE ACTION BOLTS WAS BENT, something that I didn't realize until I tried screwing it back in. The bent action bolt made it virtually impossible to get the action lined back up correctly. I learned a valuable lesson from this one. I WILL THINK TWICE BEFORE I REMOVE A SPINET ACTION AGAIN! Particularly one that is in this poor condition.
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