[pianotech] Wurlitzer spinet ugh

[Gerald Groot]

I might add that you will have to be careful in doing this.  If there is not
enough after touch when you lower the rail, you will have bobbling hammers.
You may want to check one or two in each section, bass, tenor, treble to see
what kind of feel you have in this before proceeding all the way with the
others.  

 

Also, if they keys are not level, that will make a difference in your
aftertouch as well.  It will be inconsistent.  While lost motion eliminates
a lot of problems, the rail will still have to be set at the proper height
first.  Usually, when the blue screws are set, that is about where the
action belongs, but nothing is set in stone with pianos.  

 

I do the same as Tom, removing keys, turning the capstans, getting a feel
for how many turns are required before putting it back in and then do a
whole bunch at a time once I get the feel for it.

 

Jer

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Tom Driscoll
Sent: Sunday, February 21, 2010 12:26 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Wurlitzer spinet ugh

 

Marshall,

 That is actually a pretty good action but those capstans are hard to get
to.

 In the past I have manipulated a capstan wrench to get in there but it is
still difficult .

 I now remove each key and turn the capstan up and replace. After a few you
will get a feel for how much to turn and it goes quickly .

     The other tip is that before you touch the capstans  the rail you
describe can be adjusted to take up lost motion wholesale. The silver
machine screws at each bracket can be loosened (they are probably loose
already) and you will also see-feel  small blued round head screws that pass
through each  support bracket  and screw into the rail . Remove those . 

Between  the wood rail and the action bracket are sandwiched small wood
spacers that can fall out if you are not careful. There are one or two at
each bracket and they are often different thickneses .

With the rail loose, push down to eliminate lost motion and tighten each
machine screw making sure those spacers stay put.. I crank those machine
screws pretty tight as they thread into the metal bracket and will not strip
out. I chose to leave the small blued wood screws out. 

This will get you close --THEN adjust capstans as described. 

Hope this helps,

 Tom Driscoll

 

Subject: [pianotech] Wurlitzer spinet ugh

 

Hi Everyone,
I worked on a Wurlitzer spinet today and had a question about it.  It's a
serial # 506984.  I'm not sure how to adjust the lost motion on it.  The
keys are not connected to the stickers, but there is this sticker rail wit
screws on it that faced me as I sat at the piano.  The adjustment for the
lost motion is on the keys themselves.  So my question is when I head back
in six months to tune it, will I need to remove that rail in order to access
the capstens?  There isn't enough room to get your finger at the end of the
key with that sticker rail in the way because the key sort of slopes down.
Thanks 
Marshall 
 
 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100221/0014aeab/attachment-0001.htm>