Heater Bar: revisited

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

    I know we just had this discussion but I had something to add.

    I went out to service a friends client who he couldn't take care of for
family reasons. The piano was about a 35 year old console (Hobart M. Cable).
In a very nice home. I always ask if there is anything more that needs to be
addressed besides the tuning. Saves me from having to be clairvoyant, I
guess.
    Anyway, he says that some of the keys seem to be "tightening up" again.
Meaning that the hammers seem to be letting off too close to the strings,
with little or no aftertouch. I had already figured that I wasn't going to
charge him any more than my friend usually did for a tuning, I decided that
I would reduce the blow distance and remove the lost motion which would
enable me to give him more aftertouch when I set the letoff. While gluing
some bushing cloth under the hammer rest rail cushions, I noticed that the
una corda pedal was not adjusted anywhere close to where it should be. So I
pull the kneeboard, and set about adjusting the pedals. I notice a heater
bar in the piano, but no control unit.
    Since there was so much discussion on the list about this very problem,
and feeling sure that it wasn't plugged in, but having the cavity open
anyway, of course, I reached up and grabbed it to check.
    Sure enough, It was going great guns! So I ask this guy, "Hey, did you
just plug this thing in when the monsoons hit a couple of weeks ago?"  No,
he plugged it in when it was moved here from his Mothers home, three or four
years ago.

    Last month, when we had the fires you probably all heard about, there
were days when the humidity got UP to 5%. Imagine that little heater bar
going all that time.


The next day, he calls me saying that the piano "sounds dead" and plays it
for me. Obviously, the hammers are blocking on the strings. I'm thinking;
the keybed has warped from me removing the bar, I should have known better,
but what was I supposed to do, let it continue to bake the piano? I called
him later that day, because I had a possible break at work, and could go
over there. It bugged me, and I wanted to make it right. When he didn't
answer I thought; it's better that it set for a couple of days before I fix
it anyways.
    So I go over there and I decide to do it right. I shim the balance rail
to get the keys up (should have been done long ago), which improved the key
dip situation. Now I start to set the let-off, now that I have the room to
do so.
    It's acting funny..........can't get my settings to
stabilize.......That's weird.......
    Then I look at the regulating rail. The jack toes are actually, on a
hard blow, slipping behind the regulating buttons on the bass section.

    D'OH!!  Big time!

OK, so I reposition the rail, and start setting the let-off all over,
followed by the checking distance and the key dip.
    I even did a once through on the tuning, and didn't charge him a dime.
My fee for the exercise was the heater bar, which is now in my trash can, so
he can never put it back in.
    BTW, in two days time, the tenor section had gone up about four cents,
but the tuning pins are still marginal. I'm hoping that they firm up. This
guy has his AC on a timer, so that it doesn't come on until 8PM. Ask me how
I know that......Humidity yesterday was 48%.  The piano had about two days
of that. It's no wonder he came to the door in a tank top and shorts. I was
sweating like a (fill in the blank here).

    I've had a lot of fun with my friend though,,,,,,,,,,,,   I still
consider him that, but perhaps he needs a "little" more attention than I've
been giving him..........