David ,Interesting problem. I've never heard of a sap problem on keys. It's of course like shooting darts at a dartboard making suggestions from afar, but focusing on whippens makes sense to me. I would experiment on the worst offender and only perform one treatment or repair procedure at a time. It is certainly more time consuming to keep removing and installing the part, but you will know exactly what was causing your symptom this way . As for lube on balance rail holes after easing, I've always concentrated on the pin , but perhaps protek on the wood could be worth a try. One noise I've noticed on some asian pianos is a click on jack return from hard jack reg. punchings. Clearly not your primary concern here , but you mentioned overall noise . Also temp. swap the whippen on the noisest note with one from the quietest and see if the noise follows the whip or not. Tom Driscoll ----- Original Message ----- From: David Love <davidlovepianos@hotmail.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2001 9:15 PM Subject: Noisy Yamaha action > List: > > I'm working on a Yamaha C5 c1979. I just replaced the hammers and shanks. > Piano sounds great. But, the action is very noisy. Two types of noises > seem to be there: First, there is a sort of click that one frequently hears > when a note played or even tapped. Interestingly, the noise does not occur > if you keep playing the note, only on the first blow. In a discussion with > another tech, he informed me that some Yamaha keys tend to leach sap onto > the balance rail pin creating a sticky residue that (when the pin is too > tight) makes a noise (clicking type) when the key is first played. The > noise does not continue with repeated blows because the contact has, in > effect, been broken. Once the key rests for a bit, this contact sets up > again and the noise will again be heard when the key is next played. Some > of the balance rail pins are, in fact, a bit tight. I have not heard this > theory before and would be interested in some comments if there are those > who have. I can certainly ease at the balance rail, but if this noise is in > part because of some sort of residue, what can the pins or key be lubricated > with that will have a positive effect. I normally lubricate the pins with > McClube (and these pins have been lubricated), so I suppose my question is > what would you lubricate the balance rail hole in the key with. > > Second, there is a fair amount of side to side play in the whippen flange > and I when I push the repetition spring from the side it makes a slight > click where it enters the back of the jack tender. Aside from addressing > the problem at the balance rail, my first thought was to repin the whippen > flanges and lubricate the lower part of the rep spring with some Protek > grease type lubricant. My second thought was to replace the whippens. > > Note: The problem is not loose weights either in the key or the damper > flanges (noise continues even with dampers lifted out of the way). > Backrail cloth and cloth on the heel of the whippen are fine. Leather on > the balancier is not hard. Hammer flanges are fine, and the hammer/shank > glue joint is solid. > > P.S. Though the action is somewhat "rattly", I realize that actions do make > some noise and that eliminating all of it is difficult if not impossible. > Nevertheless, this customer is sensitive to extraneous action noise and I > would like to get it as quiet as possible. > > I appreciate your comments. > > David Love > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com >
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