[pianotech] action center time bomb

[Ron Nossaman]

I serviced a Nordiska grand yesterday. It wasn't that far out of tune, 
and being in the beginning of seasonal transition, it was a lousy time 
to be doing a church tuning. But - there was this sticking damper, you 
see, which was the real reason for the tuning.

I pulled the action, and crawled into the cavity with whatever light 
sources I could point in the general direction of the problem, and 
started looking. I centered the wire, eliminating side pressure on the 
bushing, and that helped, but didn't do it, so I pulled the wire. Yup, 
the post pinning was way tight. I dropped the sostenuto and raised the 
up stop rail out of the way, and got the under lever out. Yup, the 
flange pinning was way tight too. So I repinned and FINALLY managed to 
get the sucker back in (the screws are flat ended, and too hard to 
file). When I had the lever out, I showed the office resident what the 
problem was and promised him that this wasn't the end of it. I suggested 
doing the one for now, and when the others start seizing up too and 
force the issue, we could do the set then.

Now, for those of you with some experience with Nordiska, besides having 
the usual  painfully strident, thin, and LOUD sound, and the heaviest 
music desk on the planet (I like that one), is this center pinning thing 
typical?
Ron N