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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A href="mailto:eliotlee1@home.com" title=eliotlee1@home.com>Eliot =
Lee</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org"
title=pianotech@ptg.org>pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, June 14, 2001 =
1:08
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> sluggish upright =
jack</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Hello,<BR><BR> I had an old upright piano =
(Ludwig) with
very sluggish jacks affecting<BR>repetition particularly in the high
trebel. Could this be from the coiled<BR>jack spring? I =
lowered
the capstan and eased the keys still didn't help<BR>much. I =
noticed that
there were no leads in the keys.<BR><BR> Is this a =
sign that
the wippen or the jack should be repinned? What<BR>about =
treating with
protek?<BR><BR>Thanks for the help.<BR><BR>Eliot Lee</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If there's enough lost motion to allow the jack to return under =
the butt,
even when releasing the key slowly and with the damper pedal down, =
then there
should be no need to lower the capstans. If the jacks are =
sluggish, it
wouldn't be from the springs, but because of tight pinning. =
Remove a few
wippens with sluggish jacks, disengage the springs and shake the =
wippens to
see if the jacks flop around by their own weight. If not, =
then yeah
-- Protek, water, or water & alcohol, zapping, or =
repinning.
Another thing that sometimes makes jacks sluggish and is elusive to =
figure out
is a humped contour to the butt leather, that doesn't let the jack =
slide
easily back under the butt, and in these pianos, sometimes you're =
forced to
introduce too much lost motion just so the jacks will return. =
Another
problem could be that the keys are balanced wrongly or too heavy =
in
front so that the weight of the action parts isn't enough to make =
them
return all the way up. --Dave Nereson, RPT,
Denver<BR></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>