Is this common?

[harvey]

Jay, I hate to be the heavy on this, but think you have landed on a
probable cause, if not the specific area effected. From the information you
provided, one owner plus three helpers, two of which don't (total 4) --
moving a *console* piano, represents a well-intentioned but uninformed
activity.

There are usually other parameters that accompany such a move. The
parameters may include, but are not limited to, a couple six-packs, a
pickup truck, no moving dolly, no blanket wrapping, and no tie-downs.
Your's could simply be the results of one of the helpers sitting on the
(closed) fallboard during the ride in the truck.

Here are a few pianos, examples, and causes I remember that resulted in
similar visual effects:
1. Yamaha studio. Cause: hit by forklift truck while in shipping crate.
Results: action/keyset shifted out of position. Repairs: miscellaneous,
primary being bent main action rail. Common? No.
2. Samick console. Cause: bad glue joint -- piano removed from dolly and
placed on floor by professional movers. Results: treble case side fell off.
Repairs: unknown (observed at a NAMM show) Common? Don't know.
3. Kawai console. Cause: dropped on its back from extended forks onto
driver's "cage" of forklift. Repairs. Miscellaneous, primary being broken
action brackets and action base (support) bolts torn from keybed. Common? No.
4. <Some> vertical. Cause: piano riding in pickup. Truck hit bump, piano
jumped, sheared off center keybed support screw; bent a couple other keybed
support screws. Repairs: Replace sheared and bent screws, touch up regulation.
5. Unknown vertical. Cause: piano riding in back of pickup truck, "secured"
by two people placing one hand on the topboard. Truck turned corner (too
fast), piano rolled and bounced to opposite side of bed and flipped over
the side. Repairs: Unknown, (a curious friend) was only following the truck
to wait for this to happen. Only had to follow three blocks. Don't think
there was enough piano left to repair. Common? With variations to the
theme, yes.

I suggest looking for things that are not immediately obvious. By all means
check the items listed by Lance and Clyde (the only replies as of now).
However, if you find lost motion -- for example -- instead of correcting
it, look for a cause for the lost motion. Particularly, look for any
misalignment (out of plumb) on case symmetry, such as the topboard, one
edge of the case being higher/lower than the other, and/or any other
non-action indicators (finish scrub marks, scratches), sheared or bent
screws in any keybed supports (remove to determine), damage to keybed/plate
support flange and/or any broken/missing shims. Check for damaged/displaced
action support (ball bolts) and or mounting blocks. Almost forgot. I've
seen action ball bolts "sink" into their mounting blocks following minor
trauma (bouncing). Grabbing a handful of (each) action bracket and trying
to move fore and aft is a good test for this.

Most important, don't go up any one-way streets without a map. Try to work
on the cause rather than the effect. Look at things, touch other area,
smack or hit still others to check for noise or movement that shouldn't
exist. Example: what happens if you use your knee as a jack under the
keybed in the effected area? Movement, groaning, squeaks, key height
changes, case side falls off?


You wrote:
>I recently tuned a 5 yr-old Samick console.  The owner previously moved the
>piano about a year ago (with the help of 3 others).  I don't know how they
>moved it.
>
>I noticed that the top octave and a half was about 4-5 mm lower than the
>rest of the keyboard and a few keys throughout the keyboard were also lower.
>
>Jay


Jim Harvey, RPT
harvey@greenwood.net
________________________
 -- someone who's been in the field too long.