Hammers blocking in Seiler uprights

[piannaman at aol.com]

Hi Ed,
 
You'd think that the problems would come back, wouldn't you?  I first had this issue with Seilers about 3 years ago--only it was WAY beyond this point after 3 years of no tuning-no servicing.  It was completely unplayable, as hammers were 1/2 inch or so up off the rail, let-off was somewhere near the plate, and back checks were body-blocking the hammers firmly against the strings (helped by lack of l/o).  I regulated the piano fully expecting the conditions to return.  3 years later, the regulation has stayed where I put it.
 
The climate in this part of CA is excellent for pianos.  Humidity varies between about 40 and 60% and I seldom have cause to recommend climate control.  
 
I agree with you in thinking that it must be a keybed issue.  I would like to speak to someone at Seiler about it to get some answers, but the tech support there is non-existent since Donn Stevenson left a couple of years ago.  It's frustrating; I think they make really nice pianos, but they have to back the product up better.
 
Thanks for your input,
 
Dave Stahl
 
-----Original Message-----
From: ed440 at mindspring.com
To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>; pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Fri, 7 Apr 2006 13:06:06 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Hammers blocking in Seiler uprights


It sounds like something is happening that increases key dip. Unstable keybed causing the center rail to rise, or the front rail to drop?  The peculiar lost motion could be caused by the back rail or the entire keybed rising or dropping.  If this is a humidity caused change in the keybed, you will see it again.  The lost motion will come and go with the seasons.  A climate control system should stabilize it.
 
Ed Sutton


-----Original Message----- 
From: piannaman at aol.com 
Sent: Apr 7, 2006 2:22 AM 
To: pianotech at ptg.org 
Subject: Hammers blocking in Seiler uprights 


Hi List,
 
I took a breather from the list because business has been pretty good, and wht do I see in my mailbox?  637 messages from pianotech...  Wish I'd had the time to read them all!
 
I have recently encountered an interesting problem in a few Seiler uprights.  Last week it was in a 132, probably 2 years old.  This week it was a 122, similar vintage.  Both were purchased as new from a dealer within the last 7-8 months.  I've also seen this problem with a few Seilers of slightly older vintage.
 
What's happening is that the backchecks are checking the hammers a bit too close--like right into the string, if you push on the key a tad, or on a soft blow where the hammer rebounds slowly and gets smushed into the string by the backcheck.
 
There is adequate lost motion.  In one of them, there was negative lost motion, but the problem persisted after regulation of lm
Let off is good, right around 3-4mm
 
The only VISIBLE problem is the checks are regulated way too close.  
 
After making the the lost motion was okay, I regulated so checking around 10 mm.  It works fine.  It's strikes me as odd that this would happen, because they weren't that way at the first tunings.  Granted, we are having a wet winter, but I can't fathom how humidity could cause this. They are both in relatively stable environments.
 
About 4 years ago, I dealt with a Seiler that had this, and many other regulation problems seemingly caused by environment.  AFter regulation, the piano has been quite stable.
 
Anybody with similar experiences with these pianos?
 
Have a great weekend, 
 
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