Grand wippen spring. Go figure

[David ilvedson]

> Date:          Wed, 29 Jan 1997 11:44:40 -0700 (MST)
> From:          Jim <pianotoo@IMAP2.ASU.EDU>
> Subject:       Grand wippen spring. Go figure
> To:            pianotech@byu.edu
> Reply-to:      pianotech@byu.edu

Jim,

I wonder if your piano owner, who apparently likes to get into
the action, might have fiddled about.  I don't know many piano
owners that move wippen rails!


> Just this last week, I ran into a strange problem.
>
> A note in the middle of the upper section would not repeat and sometimes
> would not play at all.  The owner had taken out the action and found that
> if he moved the wippen rail back over 1/16 inch all the notes would play.
> Unfortunately, when he put the action back in the piano, all of the
> hammers blocked against the strings, but the one offending note would at
> least play.  In desperation, I was called in to fix it.
>
> It didn't take long to see that the wippen rail was moved.  The shims
> were still glued in, so it was simple to loosen all of the wippen rail
> screws and restore the rail to its correct position and retighten the
> screws.  Unfortunately, when I did this the one note which was the
> problem in the first place reappeared.
>
> As I investigated further, I discovered that the repetition spring which
> is of the Renner type was disconnected from the silk cord glued into the
> back of the jack.  At first I figured that the silk cord was broken, but
> it was not. I hooked it up again and all was well.
>
> The mystery is:  How did the spring get out of the silk cord loop?  I saw
> no evidence of a foreign object having been involved.
>
> Any ideas as to how the spring had popped out?
>
> I found one other at note 88 which was disconnected.  I can't figure.
>
> Jim Coleman, Sr.
>
>
ilvey, RPT
Pacifica, CA