Baldwin spinet "lost motion" issue twice in one week....

[R Barber]

Hey Dave!
On ye ole spinets I have found an unwieldy note or 2 like this.  Usually 
the jack is tripped or needs to be tripped, I don't remember which way 
the lingo goes.
Rick Barber
Morgan Hill, CA

> ...or "why I love spinet pianos!"
>  
> First piano was in a multimillion dollar home.  A little Baldwin spinet, this one with inverted sticker type action.  The lady had purchased it for 400$ without any kind of consultation, and her husband and five if his friends had toted it up the stairs and into their castle.  I was tuning away, and found one note that wouldn't regulate.  Everything was there, but the lost motion ate up about a quarter inch of keydip.  I looked for things that might be wedged in there, but I could find nothing.  And I didn't have time to pull the action, having already spent most of the appointment pitch raising the pso and vacuuming out the various places where who-knows-what may have dwelt.
>  
> Second piano, a just-delivered rental piano, had the same symptoms--again on only one note--but it was one of the newer type Baldwins with the rubber grommets hooked into the lifter fork, and the plastic nut on top.  
>  
> I checked linkage as much as I could, but could find nothing wedged anywhere on either instrument, though on the second one the connecter to the elbow was sitting up too high.  Very frustrating.  I explained to the owner and renter that this is one big reason why spinets in general should be avoided.
>  
> Anybody experienced this?  Thoughts on why this might occur?  I'm convinced that there is something  wedged inside that I can't see or get to without yanking the action, but any suggestions are more than welcome!
>  
> Dave Stahl, RPT but humbled by Baldwins again