Action mounted to rubber?

[Wallace Scherer]

Hey everybody, I could use some help with this one.

Last week I was in a customer's home working on her Wurlitzer console. This
is the one where the action is fastened to the frame with long screws with
spacers. After some minor work to the action, I was reinstalling the four
screws. The first three seemed to be going in fine, but the one farthest to
the right felt a little rubbery. It was going in, but a bit tighter than
the other ones, and seemed to spring back a bit after each turn. With just
about and inch left to go, it suddenly freed up - broke off down inside the
hole, behind the plate.

I showed the problem to the owner, secured the other three screws well, and
showed her that it still worked, though the action did flex a bit when
stepping on the sustain pedal. At least the sustain pedal didn't creak like
it did before, which I think was caused by misalignment of this action
screw. I told her I would have to get back with her when I figured what to
do about the broken off screw.

The mounting bracket on the action didn't seem to line up very well with
the hole in the plate when I sighted along it. The other three lined up
fine. The end of the broken off screw is about 1/4 of an inch behind the
back of the plate.

Any ideas as to what to do? I suspect a manufacturing defect, but the piano
is too old for any manufacturer (now Baldwin) corrections, I would suppose.

Wally Scherer
Norfolk, VA, USA
E-mail me at WallyTS@iName.com