Hi Paul Well we ruin the oil board all the time. Its not sacred, its just a shim. We often use strips of cardboard cut from flange boxes. To replace the back rail cloth we first measure the overall original felt height above the keybed. Then soak with Hot water & vinegar to soften the glue . Soak it good and let it sit for an hour then steam it off. Replace the felt,usually it is a very thick piece, Glue the front edge down,slip in the red felt & shims with just enough glue to tack it in place and stretch the felt a bit as the back edge is glued and clamped down. We use spring clamps and the Renner slats that come in the shank boxes as cauls. We use the oil board for under string shimming. Its hard and doesn't compress. It is available in sheets from Stwy. Not cheap but available. Next yer gonna wanna know what the action ratio is & what dimesnion parts to use....aaaand the hammmer weight etc. etc.. Swim quickly! yikes Dale -----Original Message----- From: Paul Milesi <paul at pmpiano.com> To: PTG Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Sun, Dec 13, 2009 10:32 am Subject: Re: [pianotech] Effects of replacing keytops without routing down keysticks Dale, Thanks very much for the intersting specs on ivory thickness relative to replacements. As just related in my reply to JD, I’m thinking I may be OK, since key dimensions are very, very close to what they should be (see post to JD). I really appreciate the info on the red colored oil board under the backrail felt. I never knew that, since all the actions I’ve reconditioned (as opposed to “rebuilding” with new parts, etc.) have had cloth in good condition. I’m glad I didn’t steam off the old felt, as I was tempted to do (the glue seemed very reluctant to give), since I suspect that would have ruined the oil board, which is in very good shape. Does Steinway sell that, or can you get it someplace else? Paul -- Paul Milesi Registered Piano Technician (RPT) Piano Technicians Guild (202) 667-3136 (202) 246-3136 Cell E-mail: paul at pmpiano.com Website: http://www.pmpiano.com Address: 3000 7th Street NE, Apt. 204 Washington, DC 20017-1402 From: <erwinspiano at aol.com> Reply-To: <pianotech at ptg.org> Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:58:15 -0500 To: <pianotech at ptg.org> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Effects of replacing keytops without routing down keysticks Hi Paul Original Ivory is usually .035 to .040/1 mm so a .060 key/1.5 mm is only .020 thicker than the original Ivory. If the sharps are set up to 1/2"/12 mm and the key dip isn't excessive then really reg. is probably not a problem. As Long as the sharps aren't buried at full key travel. If you replace with thicker plastic of .090 it may be an issue. Also JD raises a practical solution but... If later the client wishes to install a set of pre-ban Ivory they are generally .060 from Warthers and I'm guessing you could order the Ivory any thickness you want to so as to address your key wood thickness concerns. Just a thought. BTW All vintage Steinway had the back rail glued on both sides. We still put it back that way. There is always an underlayment of red felt & sometimes a shim of the red colored oil board that Steinway has used forever. The back of the key always stops precisely with out bounce and the hammer line doesn't wander Dale -----Original Message----- From: Paul Milesi <paul at pmpiano.com> To: PTG Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Sat, Dec 12, 2009 11:51 pm Subject: [pianotech] Effects of replacing keytops without routing down keysticks OK, I think I’m pushing my own envelope now, and really need some advice from the experts. I took on a 1915 Steinway M action for rebuilding (all new parts – verdigris). Have had it in storage for a few months because customer was out of the country and wanted me to take it. Anyway, now that I’m looking at it more closely, I realize that when the keys were recovered about 20 years ago with 1/16” plastic, no routing down of keysticks, but solid, clean job. Sharps appear to be the original ebony in very good shape. Keyframe felts are a mess. When I lifted backrail cloth, somebody shimmed it with a thin cardboard under the red felt and glued both sides of green down (isn’t backside usually not glued?). I’m guessing this was because the new keytops brought the keys too high for fallboard or hammer stop rail? However, my key height measurements show height about 3/32” lower than 2-19/32” spec. Dip is shallow, too. Relationship of sharp to natural is excellent as currently set up, however. I don’t have the piano here, so can’t check key height, etc. against case parts. :( With replacement keytops mentioned above, will I be able to make this action work after installing all new frame felts and new S&S hammers, shanks, flanges, wippens, let-off regulating buttons? Should I expect the worst, or might tolerances be wide enough that I can put a proper regulation on it? Are we ever lucky enough that when keytops have been replaced without routing keystick, the action still works? Thanks for any insight you can provide. Paul -- Paul Milesi, RPT Washington, DC (202) 667-3136 E-mail: paul at pmpiano.com Website: http://www.pmpiano.com <http://www.pmpiano.com/> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091213/6af16fa6/attachment.htm>
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