> I'm working on a grand action where the keypins appear new/recent and > are at all sorts of angles - many leaning forward and actually catching > the key mortise edge. 40% of them you can wiggle quite a bit with your > finger (like 1 mm movement at the top easily). Wood around pins feels > almost spongy - like someone treated the darn thing with the pinblock > dope of yesteryear (but no stains - don't really think anyone did > that). Most pins pull out quite easily. This thing is a mess. I've been > bending a few pins, etc., to make things function, but this is otherwise > a very nice piano and these pins are total BS. I can't feel right > applying 73 bandages to this instrument. > > The only thing I can think of doing to make things right is to either > replace the key frame front rail and drill new holes or plug the > original and redrill. Anybody tackle this task before? Anyone have any > other wise ideas (constructive-wise, not smart-alleky-wise!)? > > Thanks. Scary pictures available upon request. > > Terry Farrell Since you say the pins look new, I think I'd pull a few of the really slanty ones and look in the hole first to see if someone dropped in a chunk of ?something? to shim out the hole when the new pins weren't tight. If so, I'd clean out the holes and drive the new pin back in with a sliver of veneer in the front or back side of the hole. Then I'd either CA, or epoxy the whole mess from the top, heating with a heat gun if epoxy was used, to soak up and solidify the soft wood. I just had an action with too soft front rail wood, where I couldn't space the keys without making the pins loose. A good CA soaking did the trick on this one. If that didn't work, I'd inlay a strip, or two, in the front rail and re-drill. Ron N
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