first almost-rebuild/major fixup project!

[BobDavis88@aol.com]

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Ilex,

Congratulations. The Kawai 600 will make a nice piano. One general piece of 
advice I have is to get to know the piano before doing anything to it. Bring it 
to pitch, tune it, and play it for a while. I don't suppose there's much 
reason to wait very long on the action work, but I'd wait on the strings. Yes, 
eventually fix the bridges, but the deterioration you're seeing will make almost 
no difference for now, except for the top section. Even there, find out if the 
strings are causing wildness problems, and how much, so you can hear when it 
gets better. Get to know the characteristics of your piano, then the 
differences you make will be more instructive. 

Before you ease keys, make friction measurements at all rubbing or rotating 
points in the action, to make sure the friction is indeed in the keys. If it is 
indeed in the keys, ease slightly with heat, or rebush. Don't go squashing 
wholesale on the key mortices.

Wait on the strings.Get to know any weak spots in the scale. Get the hammers 
in good shape, and the thirty-year-old strings will sound better. I take care 
of a couple of 600's, and if memory serves, the plate is a little soft, and 
they tend toward front duplex noise. Find out if I am right, in case you want to 
do something about it at stringing time. The dampers will probably serve, 
unless the spill got them, in which case you get to do two full damper 
adjustments for practice - one now and one when you string. 

Plates aren't that hard to take out, and permit access to scrape and refinish 
the board properly. If you make reference marks before the plate comes out, 
you can get it back exactly where it was, and you won't disturb the 
downbearing. Borrow a Lowell gauge and see how much bearing you have, just for 
information.

Enjoy.

Bob Davis

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