This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Hi Everyone! The victim: a cruel, crude spinet in a church The problem: those little metal forks at the end of each key This is one of those thankless little spinets that has had a lot of = maintenance work performed in the last few months after years of basic = neglect. (The church isn't ready to get rid of it yet.) At one point = before all this work, all of the keys "worked" in that if you hit them = plenty hard, a note will sound accompanied by a chorus of clattering = loose parts, and it will return to rest position to await the next blow. = What was happening was that all of the action screws were so loose that = everything was allowed to flop where it will. Furthermore, all of the = keys were plenty sloppy with worn bushings and enlarged balance holes. First order of business -- tighten all those flange screws. Do a = rudimentary (very low-budget) regulation to improve the response. But = guess what -- the keys don't line up too well with the sticker wires = with the little square rubber grommets in the middle section of the = piano. They want to lean to the right with enough force to cause = binding at what is left of the bushings on one side. Disconnect the = wire and the key and the corresponding action parts regain their sloppy = characteristics. Found that I could greatly reduce the binding problem by very slightly = tilting the fork with a pair of pliers so the corresponding key is not = so prone to leaning. Some of the little forks offered plenty of = resistance to being tilted. Others felt like they were getting ready to = break. They are just little pieces of stamped metal that appear to have = been inserted on the vertical, then twisted most of the way but not = quite enough to horizontal. In the event that one of those little forks does break ... Are replacement forks available from any of the supply houses? Does anyone have a cute trick for extracting the pieces out of the end = of a key without doing too much damage to the key? Does anyone have any ideas ... oh stupid me, I should have thought of = bending the sticker wires with the damper wire pliers ... unless someone = has a better idea on how to correct this situation very efficiently. (No, I am not looking for ways to efficiently implode this spinet to = make it easier to haul away.) Thanks for your ideas -- Z! Reinhardt RPT Ann Arbor MI diskladame@provide.net ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/f5/9f/cb/87/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC