<font color='black' size='2' face='Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif'> <div><font style="background-color: transparent;" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'm very familiar with Kimball's sticking centers. 5 years ago I bought a Kimball from a dealer, for the cost of the move. It had tight centers all over the place. I had very little work back then, so I spent about 12 hours repinning the entire action. Sold it to a couple from church. Tuned it 2 years later, and took care of about a dozen or so tight centers. Got called back a month ago, and all of the centers were tight again. I replaced all the hammer butt flanges, and repinned most of the jacks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that either they will move back to the mainland (they're military), or I will retire and move back to the mainland, before they call me again. :)</font></div> <div> </div> <div>Wim</div> <div></div> <div style="clear: both;"> <div> </div> </div> <div></div> <div></div> <div style="color: black; font-family: arial,helvetica; font-size: 10pt;">-----Original Message-----<br> From: John Formsma <formsma@gmail.com><br> To: pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org><br> Sent: Mon, Sep 3, 2012 11:24 am<br> Subject: Re: [pianotech] reverse solution<br> <br> <div id="AOLMsgPart_1_cae5a3e8-624f-47dd-9adc-1dd8091cec96"> That's true for key sticks. However, Wim said specifically that various action centers were tight. Works the reverse of key sticks. More humidity = tighter centers. <div><br> </div> <div>Wim, I assume you checked the balance holes, right?</div> <div><br> </div> <div>I personally think the problem is right there in front of you. The Kimball name plate.</div> <div><br> </div> <div>OK, all joking aside. Many Kimballs that age have multiple problems. Tight balance rail and front rail bushings, tight centers, weak jack springs. Why the sticking is worse without the DC doesn't make sense, assuming the real problem is tight centers. I think you need more data. But, that would involve a return trip to a Kimball, which is currently working well enough to please the customer. Surely you have better things to do with your time, like get a root canal with no anesthetic.</div> <div><br> </div> <div>;-D</div> <div><br> </div> <div>-- </div> <div> <div>John Formsma, RPT<br> </div> <div>Blue Mountain, MS</div> <div><br> </div> <br> <div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 4:00 PM, John Ross <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jrpiano@bellaliant.net">jrpiano@bellaliant.net</a>></span> wrote:<br> <blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid;" class="gmail_quote"> <div style="word-wrap: break-word;">As the moisture leaves the keys, the wood fibres draw together, making the hole tight on the pin. <div> A person tends to think that as the wood dries 'shrinks' the hole gets bigger, as seems to happen with tuning pins in the winter/dry time.</div> <div>I think I am 'thinking' correctly, if not, I am sure I will be corrected.</div> <div>I have been wrong before, and will be again.</div> <span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"> <div>John Ross</div> </font></span> <div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">Windsor, Nova Scotia.</font></span> <div> <div class="h5"> <br> <div> <div>On 03-09-2012, at 5:25 PM, <a href="mailto:tnrwim@aol.com">tnrwim@aol.com</a> wrote:</div> <br> <blockquote type="cite"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <div><font style="background-color: transparent;">Tuned a 40 year old Kimball console on Tuesday last week, 30 cents low.  All the keys were working, except for a few slightly sluggish jacks in the upper register. But after a treating them with Protek, they worked fine. The piano has a DC, but it wasn't plugged in, which I suspected was causing the few jacks to be tight. So I plugged it in, and told the customer to leave it on 24/7, as are all DC in Hawaii, explaining the heat will keep the action from freezing up, </font><font style="background-color: transparent;"></font></div> <div><font style="background-color: transparent;">Got a call on Friday saying the keys are sticking. Went back that evening, and sure enough, about a dozen jacks, hammer butts,and wippen centers were very tight.  I told the customer that it wasn't supposed to work that way, so I unplugged the DC, and told the customer to call me if the keys were still sticking in a couple of days. This morning he called and said all the keys are working. Go figure. </font></div> <div><font style="background-color: transparent;"></font> </div> <div><font style="background-color: transparent;">Any one want to speculate why? </font></div> <div> </div> <div>Wim Blees, RPT</div> <div>Hawaii</div> <div style="clear: both;"> <div> </div> </div> </font></blockquote></div> <br> </div> </div> </div> </div> </blockquote></div> <br> <br clear="all"> <div><br> </div> </div> </div>  </div> </font>