1890's Everett upright

[Joe And Penny Goss]

Use a non felt split mute.
Joe Goss RPT
Mother Goose Tools
imatunr at srvinet.com
www.mothergoosetools.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Voigt" <jvoigt at gwtc.net>
To: "pianotech" <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 7:11 PM
Subject: 1890's Everett upright


> I tuned an 1890's vintage Everett upright today and have a few
observations,
> gripes, and questions.
>
> Observations:  There were a number of features that I hadn't seen on other
> pianos.  It had a felt mute rail that was easier to remove than most.  It
> rides in a slot and has rods on either end to accuate it.  This rods are
> released simply by pulling them out of a fork, much like the rubber
grommets
> in the fork of a spinet.  The action posts are held in by cam locks rather
> than screws or nuts making action removal easier.  Also, lost motion
> regulation is accomplished by a screw and button arrangement on the bottom
> of the sticker like that used for let-off.  This is very visible and
> accessible.
>
> Gripes:  This piano has a very nice black finish and a beautifull open
face
> pin block, but the strings have so little height over the plate that it
> makes it very difficult to keep a felt mute in place.  I tried three
> different thicknesses of felt, but even at best, it didn't take much of a
> blow to the strings to cause the mute to pop out from between the strings.
> The plate was so close that it made it difficult to even insert a stick
> mute.  Tuning time was greatly increased.  Also, in the bicord section
most
> of the hammers were striking to the left of where they should.  At best,
> they would hardly strike the right string.  At worst, they would slightly
> strike the string of the next lower note.  Alignment on the tricords and
> monocords was good.  Heating shanks and moving them to the right caused
them
> to get hung up on a neighboring hammer.  Trying to loosen the hammer
flange
> screw and retighten it in position was fruitless.  Oh yeah, someone
> previously filed the hammers at an angle so that even if the hammers were
> aligned properly, they would probably still only strike the left string.
>
> Questions:  Is there a fix for the hammers other than filing the hammers
and
> replacing the shanks?
> Has anyone else ever experinced a situation with the plate being so close
to
> the strings?  It is a shame that this piano has features that make
> regulation and repair easy, but make tuning difficult.
>
> John Voigt
> Avon, SD
>