Yamaha Spinet

[Clyde Hollinger]

Jerry,

Answer to question 1:

Yes.  Here is my procedure.  It's tricky, but after learning it I've
never had to pull out an action to replace the hammer/butt assembly.  I
only service one Yamaha spinet, and I haven't had to do repairs on it
yet, so I hope this general procedure will work for that piano.

1.  Hold the jack out of the way by using a jack holding tool (Schaff
#129) placing it between the letoff button and the top of the jack ear.
You may be able to get just a little more working room by moving the
rubber grommets out of the forks for just the two keys in your immediate
work area.

2.  Put the flange screw in a screw holding tool (Schaff #48) and pull
back on the cable button so the screw will stay in position.

3.  Getting light at the right place is always a problem for me, so I
hold a small flashlight between my teeth (not very professional but I
haven't come up with anything better yet).  I can aim it right where I
need it.  Lower the repaired hammer/flange assembly into place.  Get the
flange into position using any tools that can help you swivel it to
where it belongs.

4.  With slight downward/backward pressure the flange can stay where you
want it long enough to pick up your screw holding tool, which already
has the screw in it, and wheedle it back through the jungle of other
parts and into the screw hole.  All you really need to do is turn it
enough to get it started.

5.  Carefully remove the screw holding and jack holding tools and  and
use a long screwdriver to tighten the part.  Make sure it is aligned
properly before doing the final tightening.  If there is a bridle strap
to deal with, that can be tricky also, but I get it back on the wire
with the use of a sturdy needlenose pliers.

Answer to question 2:

Sooner or later you will need to remove an entire spinet action.  I push
the grommets off the forks with a screwdriver unless they have the
larger nuts, in which case I can just do it with my fingers.  Some are
easier to remove and some are harder.  I ran into a couple where the
forks had rusted underneath the grommets and also some where the
grommets had become petrified and broke into pieces when I tried to
remove them.  Get some spares; a whole set of donut grommets costs about
$6 (square rubber grommets are $24) from Schaff.

Regards,
Clyde Hollinger, RPT

Jerry Hunt wrote:

> The piano was a 30 year old Yamaha spinet with a
> broken hammer shank. I was able to remove the hammer
> butt withouth removing the action (thanks to my long
> flange screw screwdriver). Not having arms like an
> octopus, I don't think I'll be able to get the hammer
> butt back in without removing the action.
>
> This spinet has the metal forks clipped to rubber
> grommets and they are really hard to remove. My
> questions are this:
> 1) Is there a way to put the hammer back in without
> removing the action?
> 2) Assuming the answer to 1) is no, is there some
> trick to disconnecting the forks from the grommets?
>
> Thanks.