Use a non felt split mute. Joe Goss RPT Mother Goose Tools imatunr at srvinet.com www.mothergoosetools.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Voigt" <jvoigt at gwtc.net> To: "pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 7:11 PM Subject: 1890's Everett upright > I tuned an 1890's vintage Everett upright today and have a few observations, > gripes, and questions. > > Observations: There were a number of features that I hadn't seen on other > pianos. It had a felt mute rail that was easier to remove than most. It > rides in a slot and has rods on either end to accuate it. This rods are > released simply by pulling them out of a fork, much like the rubber grommets > in the fork of a spinet. The action posts are held in by cam locks rather > than screws or nuts making action removal easier. Also, lost motion > regulation is accomplished by a screw and button arrangement on the bottom > of the sticker like that used for let-off. This is very visible and > accessible. > > Gripes: This piano has a very nice black finish and a beautifull open face > pin block, but the strings have so little height over the plate that it > makes it very difficult to keep a felt mute in place. I tried three > different thicknesses of felt, but even at best, it didn't take much of a > blow to the strings to cause the mute to pop out from between the strings. > The plate was so close that it made it difficult to even insert a stick > mute. Tuning time was greatly increased. Also, in the bicord section most > of the hammers were striking to the left of where they should. At best, > they would hardly strike the right string. At worst, they would slightly > strike the string of the next lower note. Alignment on the tricords and > monocords was good. Heating shanks and moving them to the right caused them > to get hung up on a neighboring hammer. Trying to loosen the hammer flange > screw and retighten it in position was fruitless. Oh yeah, someone > previously filed the hammers at an angle so that even if the hammers were > aligned properly, they would probably still only strike the left string. > > Questions: Is there a fix for the hammers other than filing the hammers and > replacing the shanks? > Has anyone else ever experinced a situation with the plate being so close to > the strings? It is a shame that this piano has features that make > regulation and repair easy, but make tuning difficult. > > John Voigt > Avon, SD >
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