Went to tune a wonderful old Steinway upright today. Noticed a problem with the hammers 'blocking' against the strings. This is a sure sign that the 'key dip' is excessive. Key dip is the amount the key goes down when played (should be around 3/8" or 10mm). Keys were dipping way more than that on this piano. I removed a few keys to find the felts completely disintegrated (photo above). Each pin should have a neat green disc of felt around it, about 2cm in diameter, as shown below.
Lucky enough to visit the home of the masters. Nice concert grand going for a mere $120,000. Anyone interested?
Victorian Overdamper pianos
- By R ROBERTS
- •
- 25 Nov, 2016
'Birdcage' pianos are NOT doomed!
In the last week or so I have worked on 3 or 4 'BIRDCAGE' action pianos.
This type of action design is Victorian and was used on 'budget' end
pianos. It's correct term is 'OVERDAMPER' and is recognised by the
series of vertical rods (hence 'birdcage'). Many tuners take one look at
these and walk away. They ARE difficult to tune, because the strings
are very inaccessible, but with modern electronic tuning devices it is
possible to get a decent tuning on them. As long as the piano is
structurally sound and the pinblock holds the tuning pins well, there is
no reason to condemn these pianos. I can still bring them back to life!
