small vertical key flop

[TunerJeff@aol.com]

Dear Audrey & Bob,

      Your comment on the smaller direct-blow pianos using the whippen-weight
to 'settle' the key caught my attention, and reminded me of a particularly
nasty problem I had with such a beastie last year. The solution to this
thread might be related!

     The piano in question had such a set of 'front-heavy' keys. If you
lifted the whippens by hand, the keysticks would fall down with an audible
"CLUNK" on the front-rail cushions.
Many notes would not re-set after being played, lightly or heavily, and it
appeared (to me) that this was a crummy design right from the start by the
factory that built it. Being unhappy with the piano's design did not solve
the problem, however... so I tried to determine just what those 'crazy
idiots' at the factory had in mind when they built this thing. Surely it must
have at least functioned!!!

    I found that the worst offenders were through the middle of the tenor,
and that few existed in the bass, and none in the high-treble. Most annoying
was the fact that neighboring keys, with the same front-heavy balance, did
not always behave the same way. Some stuck, others didn't. I found that the
problem keys would 'stall' at almost exactly the 1/2-way point in the return
stroke. What happens at that point? What could the problem be?

    First, I figured it must be the whippen-cushion was dented. Surely the
capstan was hanging-up in a deep groove, and simply couldn't dig it's way
out. Right? So I took a brush to a few cushions and 're-shaped' them. Didn't
help a bit. In fact, there was no change in the problem (...which surprised
me! I was sure it would alter the equation at least a little!).
I kept thinking about the point at which the key hung-up...and found the
answer!

    The problem turned out to be the damper-lever felt. The whippen-spoons
had chopped into the felt deeply enough that the edge of the spoon was below
the surface of the felt!
What was occuring was that the spoons were actually being 'held' by the edges
of the hole that they'd cut into lever-felt! Duh! Everytime the key was
depressed, the spoons were buried completely in the felt and could not lift
away from it when the key was released.

    It would have been a major job to replace the felt and re-regulate the
entire damper array to the new felt; Re-regulate the damper-lift, re-regulate
sustain pedal lift, etc. So I took a 'little' short cut in the procedure. As
the felt along the damper-lift-rail was in fine condition, only a little
compressed and not hard or 'crunchy', I decided to leave that section of the
felt on the lever. I only cut away and replaced the felt along the zone where
the spoons made contact. I used a felt a little thinner than the original, as
this reduced the amount of regulation required in setting the damper-lift to
the key (...the lift had gradually been adjusted over the years as the spoons
were 'eating' away at the felt. The felt I used roughly approximated the
point that the spoons currently were regulated to.).

   I don't think that this 'alteration' was any sort of compromise of the
action's operational integrity. The new felt is firmer, and should last
longer than the original. The thickness of the felt is only slightly thinner
than the action cloth originally used as the spoons were particularly thin
(...and this might help explain why they chopped away the felt, too.). I
needed less than 15 minutes to correctly set the damper lift to the keys, and
zero adjustment to the damper-wires to set pedal-lift (...which I checked
first, of course.).

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your time,
Jeffrey T. Hickey, RPT
Oregon Coast Piano Services
TunerJeff @ aol.com