Heintzman console jack return problem.

[John Lillico, RPT]

>Serial #92678, console size, don't know the action manufacturer.
>
>Thanks all for the great comebacks.  I'll be seeing the piano next week and 
>try to get to the bottom of this.  I'll post what I found.
>
>Doug Mahard

Hi Doug,

I just finished tuning #92606. I noticed a couple of notes in the treble which didn't strike on the second blow and just figured my sweater blocked the key return. Now I open the email and see that your number is so close to mine. It's too bad I didn't have your SN with me.

In my archives I have #92680 which was a console used by a piano teacher twenty years ago. No jack return malfunctions here although there were other problems.

The era we're dealing with is post WWII. The action could be by Sterling but Heintzman was about to switch to BPA. You can tell it's BPA  by the lack of a jack flange. Heintzman pianos of this era were also notorious for loose bass tuning pins. Why the bass only? It had something to do with how they were stored.....exposure to sunlight through those upper level windows where the workers couldn't look out but the sun shone in.

I think the reverse nap of the buckskin occurred later in time but the weak jack spring material lasted beyond WWII. 

You say, "On my experimentation key (middle C) I added a key weight which allowed me to feel the lost motion, but the jack still would not return when letting the key rise slowly."

I've run into Lesage pianos of this era where the jack return was incomplete.
If that little hump on the butt leather is lying too far back (down) as a result of either imperfect production or a shank hole which has been drilled toward your stomach as you face the butt, this hump or nodule will restrict the jack's return. This is evidenced by what you did next in, "Next I installed a new jack spring with no improvement of jack return."  

Then you say, "I also checked the profile of the butt leather and it looked OK 
to me.  Graphited the top of the jack also."

So, getting down to brass tacks, the butt leather is OK. How about the bore of the shank hole? It's conceivable that these were bored incorrectly for a period of time affecting all manufactureres who purchased from this supplier. 

Solution? Probably the easiest one is to decrease blow distance thus elevating the nodule or the hump of the butt, so to speak. Reducing the hump could lead to irratic throw. (Now there's a term you've seldom heard!)

Keep us posted, Doug. I'd also like to hear from others on this. After all, I've devoted 45 minutes to it. Just seems like a day's work!

John Lillico, RPT
Oakville, Ontario