Greetings List, I've been servicing PianoDisc for a couple of years now, and I've found that >properly maintained< systems are the most trouble-free. This includes regular tuning and regulation adjustments on new instruments, as well as adjusting note calibration data on the player unit with each tuning or service call. Last night I was in a restaraunt with a Young Chang PianoDisc and it was out of tune, notes were playing at inconsistent volumes and the overall volume was loud (I checked the unit as I passed by). Unfortunately, too often these units are sold like stereos, with no thought given to service, and no education given to the client as to the proper ownership or maintainence of an acoustic piano. On one service call, the customer was overjoyed that I could get the overall volume of the unit quieter, yet the piano was grossly out of tune, and she maintained that she liked it that way. You should have heard it with the synthesized accompaniment. Yeeeech! With a mention to Ed Foote's earlier post, there is keybed and keyframe modification involved in installing these beasts. I've just returned from a week-long course at the Baldwin grand plant in Conway, AK for certification on the Concertmaster digital player system. This is essentially the QRS solenoid rail setup, with Baldwin control electronics and an optional Gulbransen record rail. This is an 80 note plyer setup, and the main modification you make is removing 1 1/4 inches from the back rail on the keyframe, and cutting a 2" slot in the keybed to allow the solenoids (which are mounted underneath the keybed) to pass through and contact the backs of the keys. The cuts to the keyframe is only under the backs of the keys contacted by the solenoids, and the dagblocks are removed and re-seated on the ends and uncut center sections of the keyframe. I voiced my concerns over key-frame bedding, and was brought to where the factory had installed a unit on an SF-10 (7'). I checked the action, pulled the stack, and tapped and poked around. The keyframe was solidly bedded on the back (where the slots were) and knocked slightly on the front (they use frame glides on the keybed in the front - a process I dislike). The verdict? There is not a major problem to regulation caused by >proper< installation of these units. Proper installation includes full regulation. The systems function better with closely regulated actions. Hence Baldwin's initiative to train technicians (required with prior piano regulation experience) to install the units. It was repeatedly stressed that piano regulation was as important as the electronics to keep these units playing optimally. As an endnote, the pedal modifications were challenging, but we used the original blocks to hinge the trapwork. The kit does supply some stamped steel flanges to mount pedal hardware in tight spaces, but we (and the factory technicians) don't use them. The damper trapwork was removed, and a bent steel lift-bar installed, which hinges behind the key-solenoid rail, and is directly connedted to the inderlever tray by an adjustable rod. It can be engaged by the pedal (the lyre and pedal rods are unmodified) or by the pedal solenoid mounted to the belly of the piano and contacts the far end of the lift-bar. The modification of the bar was straightforward, the original wooden trapwork flanges were used, and the whole damper system was as solid as the old trap system. The una corda remained unchanged, the keybed cut doesn't go far enough forward to remove the slot in the keyframe that the pitman arm engages. The sostenuto monkey also remained unchanged, but the bottom of the wooden monkey was attached to a cable system, triggered by the sostenuto pedal rod, the only part of the pedal modification that I found poorly thought-out. The folks at the factory agreed, and there is some modification ideas underway. These systems seem here to stay, and we should have as much knowledge in servicing them as we can get. As for removing them, I mentioned that the keybed cut should be bevelled, so that the cut piece can be replaced if need be. The back-rail of the keyframe would have to be replaced if you wanted to, but the pianos I checked out were solid. Whew! I've got 545 more messages to go - welcome home from holidays! Regards, Rob Kiddell R.P.T., P.T.G. C.A.P.T. Student Edmonton, Canada http://www.planet.eon.net/~atonal/atonal.html
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