[pianotech] What kind of action?

[Barbara Richmond]

Thank you for the heads up, Charles. 

There is one broken cord, but there was a Christmas tree light bulb wedged in right there. I cleaned up the action and tugged fairly hard on the springs--nothing broke. That would be a good enough test, wouldn't it? This is only the second action of this type that I've serviced--when Brambach was mentioned, it rang a bell. The first time was about 20 years ago. That one had a case of crumbling hammer shanks, among other things. The piano was toast. The worst part was the farmer backed into my car and his trailer hitch did a number on my bumper and then, the next day when I went out to my car, it had a flat tire (a big nail I picked up...somewhere). Yeah, it was memorable. 

This is one of those hard-luck cases--limited funds, etc. But I would prefer that their hard luck didn't turn into my hard luck... 

Thanks, 

Barbara Richmond, RPT 
near Peoria, Illinois 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "CHARLES BECKER" <cbeckercpt at verizon.net> 
To: pianotech at ptg.org 
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 9:06:39 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central 
Subject: Re: [pianotech] What kind of action? 

 
Barbara 

make sure you test the silk cords holding the rep lever spring. Even though they may look o.k., they 
can start to break as you adjust the spring tension. 

I know that there is info in the archives on silk cord replacement. You will be glad you did.