questions, etc.

[Annie Grieshop]

Good morning!  I'm starting to feel like one of those pain-inna-butt
neighbors on a sitcom, the ones who pop in and out of the story line, just
to cause trouble (or, hopefully, give a laugh or two), so I apologize in
advance for not being a very faithful correspondent.

I have one contribution to make and two questions to ask.  Oh, and I need to
add (in re the question about action/touch changing when a piano is tuned)
that I have experienced that, myself, so I don't doubt the customer's
observation, at all.  I'm still trying to figure out what it is (and I think
it has to do with proper tension and being beat up), but I will agree that
it happens.

Anyway, onward (with apologies in advance for verbosity <g>):

1)  A friend asked for suggestions on solving dryness problems in his
concertina.  After some discussion, it occured to me that a soaked clay
flower pot in a closed container should work like a humidifier in a humidor,
adding moisture without dampness.  To test it out, I soaked a 2" clay pot in
cold water for 5 minutes, patted it dry, and then put it in a flip-lid
plastic box (12x18x10) with a hygrometer.  The initial humidity in the box
was 33% -- the same as my house right now, given the heat demands of this
cold spell (aaargh!).  An hour later, the interior RH of the box was 66%.
And 15 hours later, it's 92%.  The interior temp has not changed more than a
degree or two the entire time.

I started this email on Sunday evening, and here it is Tuesday afternoon, so
I used the time lapse to do more checking on my flowerpot humidifier.  After
72 hours, the internal humidity remained at 95%, with the temp still
hovering around 56 degrees (have I mentioned that my house is pretty
chilly?) -- so I opened the cover of the box for 30 minutes, thinking that
maybe it was just better-sealed than I thought.  The RH dropped to 35%, the
same as the rest of the house.  And when I closed the box back up, the RH
returned to 95% within 45 minutes.  There's still no sign of any moisture
anywhere in the box, so the flowerpot is hanging on to what it absorbed...
but it sure is humidifying that box!

What, if any application this might have for anyone else, I don't know --
but it's all yours.  I'm thinking about hanging a whole row of 'em under my
grand....

And now for my questions, the first of which is somewhat idle, while the
second is of Very Active Interest to me:

2)  Question one:  is a pitch lowering likely to be less stable than a pitch
raise, in your experience?  I have observed that when I have to lower the
pitch on a piano (because of environmental moisture), it's more likely to go
back sharp again, regardless of whether I tune it once or thrice.  My
hypothesis is that the string tension is keeping the piano from swelling as
much as it could -- and so lowering the string tension allows/encourages the
piano to swell more, thus raising the pitch again.  It's like taking off a
pair of shoes that're too tight -- your feet swell up in response.  So, am I
hallucinating?  Has anyone else noticed this?

3)  Question two:  I'm rebuilding a 1916 Starck vertical (with Billing
flanges) and have rebushed the keys and replaced hammer/jack springs, bridle
straps, and felt (including hammers) in the action.  All flanges/pins are
free but not sloppy.  I can't find have any technical data on this piano,
but I have regulated it to the general old-upright standards, and each note
feels/plays pretty darned well.  So I think I'm safely within acceptable
limits.

Except (and I realize this is a direct contradiction to the previous
statement) that the action, as a whole, feels as though it is continuously
shifting and changing.  A note that repeats beautifully 20 times will stick
the 21st.  Intermittent non-repetition is the single biggest problem.

Key height/dip/easing, lost motion, let off, checking, and aftertouch are
all within the proper ranges, and damper timing is acceptable.  I've
lessened the tension on the hammerbutt springs a bit, thinking that they
were too strong for the jack springs, and that did help some.  I also tried
running some material under the hammerbutt leather on the note that makes me
most crazy (A4, of course)... and it made the problem worse.  I suspect that
the material I used was too soft, thereby hanging up the jack even worse
than the worn leather.

Some things I have noticed: the capstans are not all centered in the keys.
And (consequently?) some stickers are not quite vertical (I can adjust them
to vertical, but they won't stay).  Those are the notes most likely to
stick.  The jack flanges are not noticeably crooked when compared with the
wippens, as that was one suggestion, but the hammerbutt leather has almost
no curve left to it.  So, the only thing I can think left to do is to
replace the hammer butt leather.

So the question(s):  am I overlooking something else?  what are the tricks
to replacing hammerbutt leather?  does anyone have specifications?

Oh, and I forgot to mention, the piano is 200 miles from my home, so it's
not like I can just go next door and try something.  (Yes, I do realize
(now) how stupid that is.  Just as I am no longer "allowed" to choose my own
boyfriends, I am also barred from choosing my own rebuild projects in the
future.  All candidates must be submitted to The Committee.......... <g>)

Thank you, thank you, thank you all -- and I look forward to comments and
suggestions!

Annie Grieshop
www.allthingspiano.com