Humidity and keys?

[Randy Chastain]

Richard,
How old are these pianos?  Have you checked the key leads. I¹m replacing key
leads in an older grand because they have expanded and rub against the
adjacent keys.

Randy Chastain


On 6/30/07 11:26 AM, "Richard Morgan" <rsanbornmorgan at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I was called out yesterday to tune two pianos in the same house--both
> Wurlitzers, a spinet and a grand.  They warned me that a few keys were
> sticking on each.  However, they didn't tell me how bad they were sticking!
> They are currently unplayable, and untunable until the problems are fixed.
> * They bought the spinet very recently "from a very good home," and it was
> working fine then.  It is very clean.
> * They've had the grand for 4 years, rescued from a chicken coop, before which
> it was a well-maintained church piano.  They claim an accomplished pianist
> liked it better than his own rebuilt grand.  The dampers looked very fresh,
> almost new, as if they had been recently replaced (not long before being
> rescued).  When I pulled the action, the hammers looked like they'd been in a
> chicken coop--old, hard, yellowed, and chewed-on.
> The actions on both seem to be working well, with minor, occasional
> sluggishness (could probably use some center pin lube).  I narrowed the
> problem on both pianos to the keys--many are binding against neighbors, and/or
> on the front rail bushings as well.  On the grand, the balance rail bushings
> are pretty worn and discolored, and several of the pins visible above the
> buttons are corroded; the front rail bushings I examined looked good.
>  
> Now, for the environment:  the house is a magnificent 3-story, 100 years old,
> with no central heat/air!!  It is in east central Texas, where, as you have
> heard on the news, we have received virtually our annual allotment of rain in
> this past week, and the whole spring/summer so far has been unseasonable wet.
> Imagine the humidity!
>  
> I'm sure the humidity has caused most of the problems, especially on the
> spinet.  How much will the key-sticking and sluggish action problems disappear
> as the humidity level drops?  Should I wait to do any work, to see how they
> stabilize?  If I were to do some key-easing on the spinet, and the humidity
> then drops significantly, would I then have 'pulley,' too loose keys?
>  
> On the grand, from examination, I worry a bit about warped keys, but won't
> know that for sure until I take the action stack off and am able to handle
> each key.
>  
> It seems I have two courses of action:
> 1. Do nothing at the moment, let humidity levels go down, and see how the
> pianos are affected; also, strongly encourage heater bars installed on each,
> preferably immediately, to stabilize the humidity in the piano itself.
> 2. For immediate action, at the very least, on the spinet apply
> silicone/teflon powder to the key bushings, and (very minimally) ease the key
> bushings; on the grand rebush the balance rail pins, polish the balance rail
> pins and front rail pins, apply silicone/teflon powder to the bushings.  The
> grand also calls for adjusting some of the back checks, that are 'grabbing'
> the hammer tails.  Also, strongly encourage heater bars for long-term
> stability. 
> Oh, great list, I solicit your thoughts on this situation.  BTW, the lady
> several times made the point of saying that they were on social security, and
> couldn't afford to pay much (that's not going to cause me to underbid or lower
> my price--they did buy these two pianos, after all!).  After about the third
> time mentioning SS, I gently pointed out that I am helping to pay her social
> security!!  Too, from my limited exposure to sales, I remember that most
> people are able to afford what they want to afford.
>  
> Thanks for your insights and suggestions.
> Richard Morgan
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers
> <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48255/*http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/_ylc=X3oDMTI5M
> Gx2aThyBF9TAzIxMTU1MDAzNTIEX3MDMzk2NTQ1MTAzBHNlYwNCQUJwaWxsYXJfTklfMzYwBHNsawN
> Qcm9kdWN0X3F1ZXN0aW9uX3BhZ2U-?link=list&sid=396545433> from someone who knows.
> Yahoo! Answers - Check it out.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20070630/5cf4b528/attachment-0001.html