Tom: Yes. I regulated one about two weeks ago. Not much to do but take up the lost motion and set the letoff. Pretty scary though. I have actually ran across a few other grands that didn't have repitition levers but to may recollection it was the first one to regulate. Gerald McC ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Sivak" <tvaktvak at sbcglobal.net> To: "pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 3:02 PM Subject: unusual wippens (Ludwig grand) > List > > I was asked to tune and evaluate an old Ludwig grand > for a new client. She had gotten the piano for free, > and it was horribly out of tune. She had plans to > renovate the piano and wanted to know if it was "worth > it". I didn't have to drive there to tell her the > answer, but I did go and tune it and then took the > action out to examine the condition. > > Holy cow. I have never seen an action like this > before. The wippens had no repetition lever! It > was as if it were simply missing. But it wasn't. It > was designed that way. > > The wippen consisted of a straight piece of wood with > the heel on the under side and the flange on the back. > There was a little flange, like an upright piano > action flange that held the jack to the wippen. There > was a long spring extending up from that straight > piece of wood. The spring looked like a really big > hammer return spring on an upright, and indeed, that > was its function here. There was also a button to > regulate the position of the jack under the knuckle, > forward and aft, but no repetition lever, no window, > nothing. The jack just stood there like a little > soldier, holding up the hammer. > > The hammer shank had a Brambach-style knuckle, and > next to the knuckle was a little post at a 90 degree > angle to the shaft that had a loop of silk on the end > of it. The hammer return spring hooked into that > little loop and helped the hammer come back away from > the string, along with gravity, of course. > > Has anyone ever seen anything like this? (I guess I > know the answer to that one, too, but I still have to > ask it.) > > Tom Sivak > Chicago > >
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