[pianotech] Young Chang

[Paul McCloud]

Hi, Matthew:

     Regarding the wood piece that you refer to:  I think you may be looking at the pinblock, which sits behind the stretcher.  The stretcher hides it and the plate.  That is what you need to make sure the hammer heads are clear of.  The stretcher will be finished, but not the pinblock.  In Young Changs, there will be 3 or 4 metal plates screwed to the stretcher and pinblock underneath the front edge.  

     I would say that the action brackets are definitely the culprit here.  If you have the needed expertise to replace them and do the necessary action regulation, give Young Chang a call and get a new set and replace them.  If not, ask some fellow tech to give you a hand with this.  You'll learn a lot in the process.

     Actually, you are lucky you could actually get the action out of the piano without breaking off the hammers.  A couple of times I had to unscrew the hammers from the rail and take them off before I could slide the action out.  Some have had the experience of having the drop screws dig so heavily into the pinblock that they had to destroy the brackets in order to get the action out.  

     Good luck.     

     Paul McCloud







Original message

From: "Matthew Todd" 

To: pianotech at ptg.org

Received: 02/02/2009 4:48:43 AM

Subject: [pianotech] Young Chang





A few weeks ago, I went to tune a Young Chang grand.  Here's what I discovered, rather quickly I might add.



When you played each note in the bass and treble, the hammer would block against the strings.  The entire tenor section was fine.  And when I slid the action out, I had to press the hammer shanks down in the bass so the heads would clear as I slid.



Anyone have a similar experience?  Like I said, the entire center of the keyboard was just fine.  Plus, as I stuided the action, it looked like the hammer line was not even.  It started high in the bass, and gradually decreased in height to note 88.  



Also, I have a question.  What do we call the piece of wood that sits behind the fallboard when its open?  The piece of wood that we always make sure the hammer heads are clear of as we slide the action towards us to remove it.  Anyways, that is what I used to discover the hammer heads were not in a line.  In the bass, the hammers were just slighty above, and I had to press down on the shanks.  And then in the treble, the heads were quite a bit lower.





 TODD PIANO WORKS 

Matthew Todd, Piano Technician 

(979) 248-9578

http://www.toddpianoworks.com
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