Baldwin Hamilton

[Ron Nossaman]

>The inevitable has started to happen. A Baldwin Hamilton (specifically the
>125 year edition) is failing to repeat because there are no key leads on
>the wippen side of the balance rail in the keys, so the capstans press up
>against the wippens all the time.
>
>The keys are not "tight" at the balance rail hole, nor at the blance rail
>bushings and front rail bushings.
>
>Solutions?
>
>How long did Baldwin do this to the Hamilton series?
>
>Regards,
>Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.M.T., R.P.T.


I haven't really had a lot of trouble with this in the studios. It was
always the loose hammers, jumpy pins, and strings not rendering past tuning
pins in the low tenor that were a pain. This is a real familiar thing with
the consoles, though. I've whittled a lot of wood from a lot of #88s to get
them to work, even on very new pianos. 

What you're seeing might be key bushing wear, especially if the problem is
worse where the key offset is greatest. As a quick and dirty (don't tell
anyone), I've bent an occasional key pin back a millimeter or so to
reposition it in the bushing wear track. If that doesn't work, it's
probably time to spend some money either re bushing, back weighting, or
both. A worn wippen pad can do this too, but it has to be pretty far gone,
or the balance of the system has to be pretty close to critical for that to
be it.


Ron N