Category Archives: Technical

Short articles on various aspects of repair, maintenance, tuning, voicing, etc.

Bluthner Patent Action

Posted on February 25, 2013 by benfairlightedwards

Keys were tight on this Bluthner Patent Action grand, and there was suspected moth damage, so I had to do the deed of removing the stack (which is easy – it’s just the re-fitting of the stack which takes some … Continue reading →

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Broadwood Grand – worth restoring?

Posted on February 11, 2013 by benfairlightedwards

This rusty dusty old Broadwood grand is working AS IT IS. But it’s a semitone below modern pitch (so A=415Hertz). So, it would be restricted to  accompanying some Baroque musics – which is OK in itself, but again…     … Continue reading →

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Hammer Travelling

Posted on January 26, 2013 by benfairlightedwards

On this very nice Yamaha CFIII-S, a few initial adjustments needed doing so that the pianist could play it for a while. A day’s service is to come later. Meanwhile, one bass hammer (the B) is catching on its neighbour … Continue reading →

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Moth Attack!!

Posted on December 17, 2012 by benfairlightedwards

Here is just one small and relatively very minor example of moth attack: Moths typically first go for the hidden bits of felt (like this key rest felt), but will happily munch their way through all the piano felts – … Continue reading →

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Tuning Pin Turning?

Posted on December 17, 2012 by benfairlightedwards

It took me one whole year to source a tuning lever (ie a tuning head attachment) small enough to turn all these tuning pins. They are of a size no longer available, so even my tuning lever’s smallest attachment wouldn’t … Continue reading →

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Bat Pin Turning

Posted on December 6, 2012 by benfairlightedwards

When the front key bushings get worn, the resulting wobble can be very off-putting for pianists (a bit like too much play on a car steering wheel). Turning the bat pins can delay replacing the bushings by as much as … Continue reading →

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String Resuscitation

Posted on December 4, 2012 by benfairlightedwards

Dead-sounding bass strings (wound strings) can be revived, as long as they don’t look like they’ll snap if tension is released. A full maul-to-maul resuscitation is required. Simply identify the culprit, release all tension, grab the eye windings with maul … Continue reading →

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Lift Noise Felt Trimming

Posted on December 3, 2012 by benfairlightedwards

This time, trimming of the split wedge felts was needed because of excessive lift noise: when 20+ wedges are lifted together (using the pedal) quite a “zing” or “ghost” noise can be heard as the felts effectively collectively (and then … Continue reading →

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Damper Felt Trim

Posted on November 6, 2012 by benfairlightedwards

Damper felts, especially the split wedges, need trimming after some years of use. Typically, these Yamaha split wedges had become so long, they still hung between the strings (dampening them) when lifted by key or pedal. Further more (also especially … Continue reading →

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String Clean

Posted on November 6, 2012 by benfairlightedwards

A good String Clean can be done at any time of year! All accessible parts of the non-wound strings can be rubbed down with a carborundum rubber. Of course, this doesn’t improve the sound, but it does reduce the collection … Continue reading →

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