Zorba's "Secret" Piano Page
The Pie-Anna!
Action Regulation.
7 February 2007
Regulating lost motion.
Squaring backchecks with "smiling pliers".
Stackup of magnetic business cards...
was setup for 1/8" plus approximate thickness of practice mute felt.
To set let off.
Another eBay find, an antique let off regulation tool.
Cupped end...
Fits over eyelet screw on let off buttons.
Key dip and keyboard level checked and slightly tweaked again.
Backchecks not quite lined up...
Adjusting...
Looks much better. Tool for this shown - had to buy this one new. OUCH!
In between being sick and dancing, I have managed to do quite a bit over the last several weeks. Now she's officially 89 years old!
Pictures for this aren't particularly interesting, but the results sure are! I'm VERY happy overall with how much BETTER the piano plays with the action in some semblance of regulation!
I checked and/or adjusted everything to do with the action proper. Dampers have yet to be regulated, but I won't do that until after I replace them (next job!).
The sanded hammers increased the blow distance to 1-7/8", the outside edge of acceptability. I didn't want to adjust it inward unless I had to as doing so throws everything else out. But they should be OK at this distance.
Adjusting the lost motion out, which was exacerbated by the installation of the new capstan screws, was the largest single improvement. As in "WOW!".
Setting the letoff, as pictured, was pretty easy. The letoff and the lost motion came out very well.
I did a small amount of releveling, and re-checked the keydip. This piano, like many old time uprights, wants a 7/16" keydip, NOT the more prevalent 3/8". I had a choice: either buy a new 7/16" dip block, or modify my existing 3/8" one. I did the latter by glueing a 1/16" piece of plastic to the top - works great.
Setting the backchecks. I'm not convinced I did it right, although the piano SEEMS to play OK. I may find myself doing additional adjustments - but we're currently halfway between tunings, I'll be asking the Piano Smith to tell me what I'm missing. I also suspect I may need to replace the hammer butt buckskins in time - another question for the Piano Smith...
On to damper replacement!
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