Action mounted to rubber?

[Carl Root]

Wallace Scherer wrote:
> 
> 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.


You would think that the screws would all be the same length, but as I
recall, one is longer than the others.  That's the one that broke off. 
You could take the broken off screw to your local hardware store and buy
an EZout.  If that doesn't work, you could try drilling it out or drill
a new hole just above or below it.

Or you could leave it.  How does this condition affect performance?

Carl