captured action

[Nichols]

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Hey Michael,
     Gonna agree with Bob on this one. IF (big if) the stretcher "hangs 
down" in front of the block enough to account for the height difference 
needed, then the stretcher comes off. I've seen several of these. (Don't 
remember an Estey, though. Maybe....) Upward is quite common, on tenon-type 
pieces mounted to the rim. Some angled, like some upright fallboard 
assemblies, but most of the more modern (post 1900) ones are just straight 
glides. There's not much room for a mallet, but you can slide the action 
out a little, to get the end glides or key frame somewhat exposed right 
under the stretcher. That will give you a nice contact point through to the 
keybed. A long pry bar, rocker, or small J-bar will do the job quickly. The 
trick is to put the fulcrum point on the head of a glide bolt. Use a block 
or two, or a short piece of pipe. Get the contact point of the lever as 
close to the end as possible, and keep the lever as parallel to the 
stretcher as possible. You'll have to trade ends a couple of times. If you 
can't move the action enough or position your lever on a solid point, then 
use a larger block to spread the pressure around on the balance rail pins. 
You can slip a shim under the front of the end keys to keep them 
depressing, if you wish. Removing the up-stop rail, if there is one, may 
help. You really don't need a huge area, you just need to have a lot more 
force than you can get with a mallet. Worst case, you can run a 4X4 
stretcher across from rim to rim, and use clamps. Keep them as square as 
possible, as they can twist the stretcher off of there easily, glides and 
all. A little lube on the inside face of the rim above and around the 
stretcher won't hurt, and may prevent marring the finish. A shot of 
furniture polish or lemon oil works fine. When re-installing, consider a 
light sanding of the ends of the stretcher, and a bit of TFL-50, or Teflon 
powder, or soapstone, or.... y'know.

Have fun,
Guy Nichols, RPT
Ft. Stinkin' Desert, NM


At 12:41 AM 5/28/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 5/27/2003 8:33:44 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
>spalding48@earthlink.net writes:
>
>>All pedals operated satisfactorily, lots of wood-on-dirty-wood sound when 
>>the shift is operated.  Looked like it was sitting right down on the bed.
>
>Hmmph. Bummer. Okay, back to the stretcher. Most of them are roughly even 
>with the bottom of the pinblock. If this one isn't, that makes me think it 
>wants to come out. I once worked on an 8+ foot Starr (!) piano that had 
>such a stretcher. The ends were slotted, and the slots slipped over keys 
>screwed to the arms. We had to give it a pretty good whomp (upward) with 
>the rubber mallet in order to disengage it. Pretty scary the first time, 
>but nothing else would do....
>Bob D

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