Sustain sustaining

[Wallace Scherer]

Hi,

I'm signed off the list for a couple of weeks, so if anyone can help with
this problem, please answer me at mailto:wallyts@compuserve.com
(Did I do that right for you folks using web based e-mail?)

I was called to fix a problem with the sustain sustaining (wouldn't
release) on an old Wurlitzer baby grand. (I expect it is a 1930s variety,
though I could find no serial number. It has sort of a star pattern around
the sound holes on the plate.)

When I slid out the action I found that the sustenuto bar (a half round
metal rod about 1 inch in diameter) was catching somehow on the sustain
mechanism. I didn't see where or how it was catching when it released, but
I suspected it might be due to leaves and dirt. I cleaned it out well and
tried to make it stick again, but it wouldn't. So after fixing some
clicking at the top of the sustain pedal rod by removing a nail in a
leather cover, I put it back together, wrote out my receipt, and went on my
way.

Sunday the lady called me back upset and said when her son went to play it,
the thing stuck again, and she has a recital at her house this week. So
tomorrow I go out again without any clue what it is I am looking for.

I know I could disable the sostunuto as a last resort, but that is not
fixing the problem, really.

Any ideas? Has anyone experienced the same problem?

Wally Scherer, Piano Technician, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Associate member of the PTG, Hampton Roads, Va. chapter
mailto:WallyTS@iName.com 
Web page: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/2411
"Old piano tuners don't die - they just go beatless!"