Lester spinet and two Yamahas

A customer called to say that when she played her beloved Lester spinet (!) with one hand, all was well -- but when she played with both hands, it clunked. This made no sense to me, so I was intrigued... and I suspected it was a pedal issue.

But when I arrived yesterday, she told me she had narrowed it down to one key, A#3, and it was actually a click, not a clunk. Uh-oh, it had to be the jack bumper felt (on the hammer butt). Ick!

What did I learn? I learned to eat lunch before tackling a frustrating repair. Spinets are too short to sit under and just a little too big to reach from both above and below, simultaneously. Whatever part you want to see is in the shadow of something else, and no screwdriver fits anywhere!

If the keybed was removable, spinets really wouldn't be too bad. You could slide out the keys, work on the action, and snap it all back together. Something to consider trying this winter!

In any case, a quick trip to the local grocery for some eats, and I got the hammer reinstalled (complete with new felt), and the click was gone, hurrah.

I also learned that superglue will stabilize a screw in a part, as well as on the end of a screwdriver. The whole issue with this piano was getting the hammer flange screw back into the rail when I couldn't see or reach anything. So, I put a drop of superglue on the flange and pushed the screw head into the glue. It held it long enough to get it positioned and then broke loose so I could tighten the screw.

Before the Lester, I installed Dampp-Chasers on two Yamaha verticals, a U1 and a U5. The customer wanted the LEDs installed on the left side of the keybed (literally on the side, just behind the leg) of the U5.

No problem, thought I... until I discovered that the 3-light LED is approximately a mouse hair wider than the space behind the leg. Fortunately, the top of the leg has a bit of curve, and I was able to shim the LED out far enough to fit with the curve.

But what to do about running the water fill tube out on a piano with polyester high-gloss finish and no space around the bottom board? No way was I going to cut that board and risk chipping the finish!

With the humidifier tank sitting on the bottom of the piano, I ran the fill tube straight up and attached it to the bottom of the keybed (just in front of the baffle) and attached a clip next to that to hold the loose end when the tube is curled for storage. Now I had the tube anchored and accessible. But what a pain, to have to remove the bottom board to fill the piano every 10-14 days. Those suckers are heavy!

The way Yamaha verticals are built, the bottom of the board will stay put when the board is leaned outward. And the board has a wooden knob on the outside. So, I set a screwhook (supplied by D-C for hanging the humidifier tank) into the bottom of the keybed, in line with the knob. Then I took a piece of heavy nylon string, about 15", and made a loop in one end and a slip knot in the other. The loop went over the screwhook, and the slip knot went around the screw that runs through the board and into the knob.

Now, when it's time to fill the humidifier, the customer can open the bottom board and let it lean outward on that string (a flat chain would be better, but string was what I had). He can reach in to get the tube, fill the humidifier, put the tube back, and close the board, all without having to move it out of the way or prop it up with something.

And when I need to get into the bottom to service the trapwork or the D-C system, I can take the loop off the screwhook and remove the board entirely. We'll see how it works over time, but that was my best solution yesterday.

Cleaning the shop

Having just returned from a great roadtrip to Arizona, it's time to get back to work. And that means cleaning my shop and reorganizing all the tools, parts, and instruments that have congregated there in the past year.

Note what I'm doing instead: creating and posting to a new blog. Uh-oh. That won't get the pianos rebuilt, will it....

But this is also something I've been meaning to do for quite a while, so I'm glad to have the motivation.

Every piano I work on teaches me something. And I've thought about keeping a diary of the lessons learned. But diaries have always struck me as an odd idea -- why write something if nobody's going to read it? -- so a blog will suit me better.

Today, I doubt I'll learn much about pianos (except that they're heavy... but I already knew that), but I am looking forward to posting some useful information here in the future.

And now... TO WORK!