plate gonna break?

[Robert Goodale]

I would bring a big screwdriver and tighten all of the plate 
screws/bolts.  It could be that the plate is moving around and needs to 
be locked down.  If the piano was just shocked by a radical humidity 
change this could also have loosened things.  In fact I think I would 
take a time out and tighten every screw I could find in the piano.  It 
would also probably be advisable to wait a couple of weeks so that the 
climate around the piano stabilizes again.

Rob Goodale, RPT
Las Vegas, NV


Dave Nereson wrote:

>    Tried to tune a 1964 Wurlitzer spinet today that I've tuned many times,
>but the treble just wouldn't hold.  Tuning pin torque was good -- not even
>marginally loose.   A4 was only a couple beats flat, so I did a pitch raise,
>overshooting by a beat or so.  Then started over to fine tune and the treble
>was still way flat.  So I pitch raised just the treble, then went back to
>fine tune and the treble was still way flat.  So I raised it again,
>overpulling more than usual. Still way flat. Raised it again. Still quite
>flat. In the middle of this 4th (!!) treble pitch raise, I remembered that
>the last time a piano behaved like this, a strut was giving way and the
>plate broke.  So now I'm getting nervous and looking for signs of the plate
>pulling away from the back, or the pinblock separating, and I'm inspecting
>the plate for any hairline cracks.  Nothing apparent.  But I'm afraid to go
>on.  The middle of the piano is staying in tune, but after 4 or 5 pitch
>raises in the treble, it's still not holding.  Again, pin torque is good.   
>