How to adjust let-off with no adjustable capstan?

[John Ross]

Unfortunately Ron, I can't escape this one. It is one that was donated to my 
Legion, and I tune it for free, once a year.
I was hoping a special tool was available.
It is playable, just a few need the excess lost motion taken out.
I don't tune it again till next November. I will go the cheap, free to them 
way, of gluing something onto the "capstans", for the real bad ones.
If the rest of the piano was in good shape, I would donate installation of 
capstans. But it is not, so cheap is the way to go.
I am surprised, that no one else has run into a piano, with this excuse for 
a capstan.
John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Nossaman" <rnossaman@cox.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 6:10 PM
Subject: Re: How to adjust let-off with no adjustable capstan?


>> Hi Ron.
>>
>> Bah, and then, if you were a sculptor, would you choose clay (sooo easy) 
>> or marble (sooo difficult) for your next masterpiece ?  What would you
>> make tend toward one or the other material ?
>
> I'd chose the clay for playing with, and the marble for the finished work 
> (unless I cast the clay in bronze), but this is an entirely different 
> thing. We aren't making a masterpiece with this old capstan challenged 
> upright. It's a no pay, maximum aggravation, zero expectation lost cause 
> that realistically passed it's life expectancy many (manymanymany) years 
> ago. If I was trapped into adjusting lost motion in this critter, I'd just 
> cut my losses, add real capstans, and escape as quickly, cheaply, and 
> thoroughly as possible with a promise to myself to do everything I could 
> to avoid being in that situation again. It doesn't always work, naturally, 
> because we always eventually find ourselves in another no win situation. 
> It's the nature of us.
>
>
>> Beware, as the answer on this question will tell much about the intimate 
>> you.
>
> Too late! I'm exposed.
>
>
>
> No peeking.
>
> Ron N
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