Keep on filing...

[Dean May]

I would also heartily recommend you purchase this tool from Spurlock:
http://www.spurlocktools.com/id24.htm  

 

I love it. 

 

Stop relying on your eyesight to set all let-offs and drops. Just set each
section end hammer in the piano.

 

To set the let off on the section ends I use a mute wire with a 90 degree
bend about 3/8 in from the end. The wire is slightly more than 1 mm thick.
If the wire is too thin, flatten it with a hammer to make it as thick as you
want the let off.  Hold the bent end under the strike point of the strings
and bring the hammer up to the wire. Raise the let off button until the
hammer touches your wire right at the let off point. 

 

Then pull action, set it on the table, and use this tool to perfectly set
the rest. The instructions say to use it to set the let off. I also use it
for the drop. After setting the let off, just turn the drop screw up while
holding the key down. When the hammer comes off the rail turn the screw down
just a little past the hammer coming back onto the rail. Like Andrew, I like
the drop right at the let off.

 

Did I mention that I love the Spurlock tool (as with every Spurlock tool
I’ve purchased)?

Dean

Dean May             cell 812.239.3359 

PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272 

Terre Haute IN  47802

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From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Andrew and Rebeca Anderson
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 10:54 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Keep on filing...

 

Danilo,
With the repetition at rest and the hammers rotated up and out of the way,
the jack top should be below the yoke of the balancier.  Ideally not much
below.  This is necessary lost motion in order to permit the jack to re-set.
You can check by using a card and dragging it over the yoke.  If the card
catches on the jack, the jack is too high.
A Steinway regulation method to check this when the hammer is resting on the
repetitions is to press the jack tender down, let go and the jack should
reset winking the hammer a little.  If the hammer doesn't wink, you have
more lost motion then necessary.  If the jack cannot reset consistently, you
don't have enough.

I like to regulate drop close to the strings and I like to have drop and
let-off coincide.  This does make the instruments more weather sensitive as
a 1 - 1.5 mil drop is not much where humidity related wood movement is
concerned.  Of-course the instruments that get that kind of regulation are
usually climate controlled here.

This requires a definite but slow rise of the hammer with the repetition
spring.  Springs are not easy to get just so and you will have to develop
the skill of setting them by repeated effort until you start getting the
result you want.  You want to be able to avoid bubbling/double-striking
which occurs when balancier pinning is too loose and or when the spring is
too strong.

It is important to note that many action adjustments are interactive with
other adjustments.  That is, when you change one, the other is thrown out.
On a new piano or when an action is worn, I will go through several times
adjusting and readjusting as things get closer to ideal.  You may want to
obtain an action regulation book that takes you through the steps in order
of greatest efficiency.  Yamaha sells a video from their website on action
adjustments.  I recommend it.  There are some differences in approach
between instruments, Steinway follows a slightly different procedure for
example, but the overall illustration is worth becoming familiar with
visually.

Andrew Anderson, Artisan Piano

At 08:12 AM 6/20/2007, you wrote:




Thanks, Tony, I enjoyed this mail!

I use this Steinway O to give concerts in this church. A few years back I
had a tuner tune it. When he was finished, I asked him "So, any problems?
-No. Loose pins? -No. False beats? -No Action issues? -No." I was quite
baffled. I even tried to convince him that something must be improvable by
playing a bit and asking "Is this or that really supposed to be like this,
ideally? -Yes, it's fine." Then he added "Just avoid the sun, it makes it go
out of tune faster." Well, it gave me another reason to teach myself. On the
opposite end, I gave a recital in a church on a 70's Steinway B, which the
organist had hired someone to renovate for ca $15000. The members of his
constitution were forever complaining "Did you really have to spend so much
money?" He asked me to help him out by taking every opportunity to praise
the instrument. Which I dutifully did. "The best piano I've ever played on,
it's as good as a brand new one, and they cost bla bla, it's amazing what
value you can get from such a perfect restoration!" It was easy, as I was
speaking the truth...

About the position of the jack, you wrote
"..the repetition regulating screw at the hammer end of the repetition lever
requires adjusting to allow the top of the jack to be just below the top of
the repetition lever."
I thought it was suppposed to be just above the top of the repetition lever?
And I've adjusted it that way. Please be so kind as to confirm this! Or do
you mean the position of the jack at the moment the hammer is released from
check and lifted up by the repetion lever?

"Your drop screw may be too low stopping the repetition lever going up high
enough"
I've set it to make the drop about a mm or so, relying on my eyesight.
You've given me some new things to look out for, so next time I get to the
instrument, I'll check everything carefully: I'll try to add some weight to
the hammer shank (someone wrote somewhere about wrapping a bit of
solderingmetal around the shank?) and carefully observe the relative
positions of the jack/repetitionlever from rest to full depression of the
key and back. Anything else I should think of?

Thanks! Danilo



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