My Headache, Your Quiz

[Alan]

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Whoa ... No one took the quiz??? We used to have fun with these
challenges. Oh, well, okay: I'll post the answers because I said I
would. They follow the problems:
 
 
Problem 1: Jack not resetting on one key. Removed a lot of slop (lost
motion) but that didn't fix it. Centers NOT sluggish, rail bushings not
binding, rail pin not turned, letoff about right.  
        >>>>> Bridal wire pulled out too far, strap was pulling the
hammer back before the jack could slip under it. 
 
 Problem 2: One key played just great unless you played it while holding
down it's immediate neighbor, then both locked up and wouldn't reset.
Hammers and wooden action parts are NOT binding, not even touching.  
 
        >>>>> Dueling bridal wires & backcheck rods. (Isn't it amazing
how many things we fix or regulate by bending, twisting, warping,
shimming, or sticking little pieces of paper behind/under things!!?)
 
Problems 3 & 4: Several keys were low despite proper adjustment of
whippen height (capstans), etc. This piano has a thick wooden upstop
rail (keystrip? prop rail?), separate from the  key cover  & nameboard
assembly. When I removed this, the keys all fell beautifully
level--after I adjusted a few capstans so the hammers actually rested on
the rest rail, that is. There were two reasons why the rail made a few
hammers too low: One involved a missing part, the other was due to a
little careless cosmetic work by someone. 
 
        >>>>> Back of two replaced ivory tails were too thick so I filed
'em down a little. Also, there is a screw that supports the middle of
the rail and keeps it from sagging in the center; it was missing.
 
Problem 5: A few notes (randomly located) went "thunk" when played and
had a very short sustain. 
 
        >>>>> Hammers blocking completely because backchecks were mashed
in too tight. (Or, to sound more professional: "Hammer checking was
severely out of regulation.")
 
Problem 6: One note played perfectly well unless you struck it six or
seven times and then it would not play at all. A small adjustment with
my thumb and forefinger put everything right ... until you played the
note a few times and it locked up again. Etc. etc. ...  
        
        >>>>> Backcheck wire/rod had broken at the wippen. Someone
drilled a hole just in front of the old hole and shoved the backcheck
into it. When played, the catcher would knock the backcheck--which was
off center--until it turned almost 90 degrees, after which the backcheck
was practically up against the catcher even in the rest position. So the
hammer could not bounce off the strings and check, it just ended up
blocking against the strings. JB Kwik Weld to the rescue. Interesting
and inexplicable why so many of these problems relate to wires sticking
out of wippens. I'm wondering if some tech didn't drop this action or
knock it over!
 
Problem 7: Couple of strings were very hard to tune: You'd bring them up
to pitch, with difficulty, but have trouble keeping them there even
though pin torque is 60 in. lbs. or better. There is a clue in the piano
description. 
 
        >>>>> Whoever pounded in the pins--which is a perfectly
legitimate fix SOMETIMES on SOME pianos if DONE CORRECTLY, IMHO--put
some of the coils so close to the plate that they bottomed out before
the string was up to pitch! I'm surprised the strings didn't break. Only
thing I knew to do was carefully pop out the becket, turn the pin out a
ways, replace the string, tune it, then tap it to a reasonable height.
 
Problem 8: One note sounded like the damper wasn't lifting at all (it
was) and two of its neighbors made buzzing, rattling sounds when played.

 
        >>>>> This will generally happen when you drop a stick mute into
the guts. Sorry, that was a cheap shot. But we do find many objects that
kids, mice, AND tuners  have deposited in the works. The Barbie Doll
shoe was the toughest to find. True story: I once missplaced my
needlenose pliers. Gave up on finding them and bought a new pair. Six
months later, I sat down to tune a Hamilton console for one of my rural
church clients. I generally run up all the notes, first, to see how the
tuning has held, spot any way-off strings, and make sure the keys play
okay. In doing this I noticed that several keys in the bass seemed
"heavy" and rattly, though the client had never complained.  Opened the
lid and .... well, you guessed it.  
 
Alan R. Barnard 
It's 12:30 a.m. 
Just back from my PTG chapter meeting -- which was two hours away from
Salem, MO 
 
 

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