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

[Paul McCloud]

I remembered another thing you might look for.  If the letoff rail is
set too close to action rail, the jack will get wedged between the
letoff rail and the hammer butt leather.  Loosen the screws on the
letoff rail and move it away from the  butts just a little.  Until I
learned that trick, I did a lot of head scratching.  Hope it helps.
 
Paul McCloud
San Diego
 
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On
Behalf Of piannaman at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 8:30 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Baldwin spinet "lost motion" issue twice in one week....
 
...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

Dave Stahl Piano Service
650-224-3560
dstahlpiano at sbcglobal.net
http://dstahlpiano.net/





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