Left Pic – All the washers and stuff for under the keys
Right Pic – All the keys are back in
All put back together
In the clients home
Today we received our new grand piano tilter from Moon Dog Manufacturing. The yellow bracket thingey bolts in place of the lyre(pedal) assembly. Then the piano can be easily rolled onto it’s side. I’ll be sure to post some pics the first time we use it.
Left Pic – Old key felts, some intact, many mouse eaten
Right Pic – Pulling off the old felts
Left Pic – Replacing key felts with my high tech pusher downer
Right Pic – Now the front row
Left Pic – Front row done
Right Pic – Keys ready to go back in
Both Pics – Keys going back in
I had 2 pin treatments this week. When pins won’t hold the tension of the string(s), the piano won’t stay in tune. There’s many solutions to loose pins, but one of the newest is to saturate the pin bushing with Cyanoacrylate (CA) Glue. Also known as Super Glue, the CA Glue wicks down through the wood surrounding the pin, swelling the wood, and then hardening. On vertical pianos, you need to tilt the piano onto it’s back, so the CA Glue will wick down around the pin. A piano tilter makes this job tremendously easier.
Left Pic – Piano tilted back
Right Pic – I use the fan to draw the fumes from the CA Glue away. The fumes tend to be hard on the eyes.
Left Pic – Piano Tilter
Right Pic – Piano Tilter in position
Left Pic – Piano tilted back
Right Pic – Treating the pins
This is an early 1900’s upright, that I’ve been working on for a client. Mice had inhabited the piano for an extended length of time. (See further down the page for the cleanup pics) The mice also ate all of the bridal straps, along with some other things. In the pics below I’m removing the remnants of the old straps and replacing with new ones.
Went to a piano tuning before Christmas, but when I got there, they had more than just a piano tuning problem. I removed the action, and brought it home to my shop to do the repair work.(Much easier than working on the living room floor)
Left Pic – Broken damper spring
Right Pic – Damper flange removed, broken spring removed, new spring ready
Left Pic – New spring installed
Right Pic – Damper flange back on damper
Left Pic – Broken Bridle Strap
Right Pic – Bridle Strap Replaced
Left Pic – More Broken Bridle Straps
Right Pic – Replacing bridle strap with bridle strap tool
Left Pic – Bridle Straps Replaced
Right Pic – All Done
In early September 2011, I received a frantic call from the Tour Manager of the Bill Gaither Homecoming Tour asking if I could come tune their stage piano that day. Fortunately I had my tuning stuff with me, so I headed on over. I was also taking my mother-in-law to the concert later that night, so I was able to see and hear the piano in action.
Left & Right Pic – Tuning Gaither Homecoming Tour Yamaha Grand on stage
Left Pic – Bill Gaither with his piano player Gordon Mote
Right Pic – Bill Gaither playing the piano
Left Pic – Gordon Mote playing the piano
