[pianotech] Gordon Laughead spinet with lifter wire issues

[Tom Driscoll]

Subject: [pianotech] Gordon Laughead spinet with lifter wire issues


, I did a quick evaluation on a piano this afternoon, a 1961 Gordon Laughead 
Spinet. It has a few issues, chiefly..
 When the customer is playing the piano, every now and then the lifter wire 
pops off the back of the key where it attaches.  The lifter wire is threaded 
with a dowel and two different thicknesses of felt washers.  The U-shaped 
metal bracket at the back of the key that holds the lifter wires in place 
seems to attach between the two felts.
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Rob,
 Rob,
    This type  of lifter wire is usually inserted into a hole at the back of 
the key and not into a fork as shown.  They still have a tendancy to pop out 
especially on a sharp blow but when inserted into a fork as you have here I 
can see why they won't stay put. The typical pickup wire for a key as shown 
has a nut and rubber (neoprene) grommet ..
 I wonder if these were changed after manufacture  or it was a factory 
decision. It's possible a tech replaced the grommets when they went bad with 
this setup. I would see if a new grommet would fit into the fork and if so 
make the change.
 Use care when adjusting these when they are tight. The wire will rotate and 
can break the whippen where the elbow is pinned.It's a bit awkward when the 
action is in but I grap the elbow with a parallel pliers under the keybed 
and turn the nut with the Schaff tool that looks like  # 3333 in the most 
recent catalog.
My first mentor , the late Paul Hegent of Sebring Fl. sold new Laugheads out 
of his shop but this was in 1973-4 not 61' .
Good luck,

Tom D.
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