Kimball butt springs

[Clyde Hollinger]

Todd,

The piano was manufactured in 1979.  Some of these pianos have a strip of
felt right against the coils of the springs.  This felt had a corrosive
substance in it which caused the springs to fail.  The fix is to remove the
hammer spring rail, remove the felt, then install all new springs.  The
springs that appear okay now are likely to fail in the future, so you may as
well do all of them.

Others tell me this is not hard to do, and I believe them.  Nevertheless,
rather than do it myself I sent the rail off to have it done.  So you will
have to look to someone else to answer question 2.

Regards,
Clyde Hollinger

Todd & Kim Mapes wrote:

> I recently serviced a Kimball vertical, model 4236, serial B43898, which
> belongs to a piano teacher.  She complained about sluggish keys and upon
> closer examination, I discovered that several of the butt springs (Pratt
> & Read action) had broken off.  My question is twofold:
>
> 1.  What would cause the butt springs to break off?  There were a LOT of
> springs broken off, and not necessarily all grouped together, but spread
> throughout.
>
> 2.  Will the Schaff stock springs work as replacements, and if so, which
> strength (medium/heavy) is recommended?  Someone recommended using heavy
> in the bass and medium in the rest.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Todd L. Mapes
> Associate Member