Piano Tuning & Repair - Removing Vertical Piano Action I HOWARD PIANO INDUSTRIES

[@noiamhippyman]

I've got a long haul project I'm working on in my workshop and this was precisely the information that I needed. Almost 10 years later this video is still helping people. Thanks for the information!

[@kingwillie206]

I just fixed my piano in 10 minutes thanks to you!

[@IanODonnell]

Thanks for making these videos! Reading books on this stuff can only go so far hahaha

[@howardpianoind]

Yes, the process will be the same for your piano. Sometimes the fallboard removal is different from one piano to another, but it is basically the same.

[@michaelandcarolblackburn103]

Thanks for the great video. I'm going to be needing to do this soon to glue a broken jack.

[@davecurtis8765]

I have an 1880 or so Baldwin player piano. The player is long gone but it sounds good. It has a lever underneath that locks the keys.

[@ElderPinkerton]

I have really enjoyed your videos. I have loved the piano my whole life long so it's nice to see how it works.

[@howardpianoind]

Thanks for watching! I am glad to hear that you're finding the videos to be useful.

[@ElderPinkerton]

howardpianoind I have a rickety Betsy Lynn spinet that is one of the heapest pianos I have ever played in my life. Your videos have helped me kind of tweak this little junker into a more tolerable condition. Acter watching your clips I feel like buying an old upright and making it a project piano.

[@howardpianoind]

Yes, sometimes you can come across a nice sounding piano even in the spinet size. I am surprised sometimes when I run across these.

[@ngbdq]

It helps a lot, thanks

[@meels13]

I'm trying to rehabilitate a gifted upright piano from 1893 Steger & Sons ((I'm a string teacher and do maintenance/small repairs on my school instruments)). I was able to pull everything out and vacuum fairly easily but when I try to put the action back in, several keys get stuck in the up position and the front of the key won't press down like their neighbors. The straps are broken on a few keys but not all the keys that won't press down and it isn't always the same keys that are stuck in the up position. What do you think the problem might be?

[@avius_]

i have the exact same issue... did you find a solution?

[@andyj482]

Hi Howard, thanks again for your videos - they are very informative. I have a question. I recently removed the action from my upright piano. However when I put it back into place, the dampers don't seem to engaging the strings as firmly as they had been before. Now when I strike many keys, they ring out as if I've pushed down the sustain pedal when I haven't. However, everything "appears" to be put back correctly. Have I simply not seated the action correctly when I put it back in, or is something else afoot? Is there a way to adjust the damper pressure against the strings when a key is in a rest position? Thanks very much.

[@howardpianoind]

Hi Andy, There are a couple of things you'll want to check. Make sure the action brackets are positioned correctly on the posts that they sit on, which it sounds like you checked this. The other thing is to make sure that the pedal rod is seated correctly on the lever on the action that it goes onto.

[@andyj482]

thanks Howard! You were right - the rods weren't seated properly. Thanks!

[@YamiMoves]

@@andyj482 I’m having the same issue but my pedal rods seem to be in the right place

[@elkerabreu1907]

Thanks. Great video. In these snippets pianos the middle pedal funcion is different from tradional upright pianos?

[@EdwinMactalMusic]

Thank you!

[@afara2000]

Hi Howard. I recently got a vintage 1920's Wissner upright piano. I removed its action easily but couldn't put it on the floor because it doesn't have metal legs for rear support like your piano in this video. I laid it against a board and some of the weight of key action was on dampers felts. Next day I found something to put behind the bottom horizontal board so that damper felts or key action are not touching anything. Could I have possibly damaged the damper mechanism or ruined their adjustments? Also, please let me know if you made a video on how to change damper felts because they are very old and need replacement. Thanks.

[@howardpianoind]

You most likely didn't damage anything. For actions that don't have feet to set the action down on, you can take some wood blocks and cut a space out of the block for the bottom of the action brackets to sit in. Just make sure the blocks are big enough that the action will be stable enough to balance the action on. The best thing would be to have an upright action cradle such as we sell in out online store: howardpianoindustries.com/vertical-upright-piano-action-cradle/

[@dannysound1]

Howardpianoid, is it possible by removing the action a bit towards me to a point that I can see the spoons to adjust the spoons to make the touch on the keys while playing softer with the spoon bender, cause I tried to bend the spoons with the spoon bender with a feeling without seeing the spoons it takes a very long time and often It takes me a long time to find the spoons without seeing them? Thanks

[@fornamnefternamn4869]

Hi! I got some backchecks that I will change. I got the wooden backchecks with felt, and want to take the whole backcheck off its wire. But I can't find info about if it is pressed in place, or if the wire has threads. Can you please help me? :)

[@paulmann4579]

I have recently removed the action on my upright console piano due to a few notes sounding double. taking the action out was fine but in replacing it I have found that I`m now hearing double notes on larger sections of the piano due to the hammers not lining up with the strings even thought the action seems to be sitting correctly and screwed back with the hand screws. having retried this a few times to line things up there doesn`t seem to be anything else I can do. Any ideas what may have gone wrong?

[@YamiMoves]

I have the same issue please help me let me know how you fixed it

[@robertacton1271]

Like all videos easy peazy Why Have I got some hammers jamming against the strings when I try putting the action back in?

[@howardpianoind]

Hammers block against the strings because the jacks have fallen below the hammer butt buckskin on these notes. This happens when you remove the action and have too much play in the bridle wires. The bridle wires job is to keep the whippens from falling down too far when the action is removed. fix the blocked hammers by pushing on the jack tails to unjam them. You may have to remove the action partially to do this. Then eliminate some play or slack in the bridle strap by pulling the bridle wire back towards you.

[@runforitman]

How should you set down the piano action so you dont damage it while working on other parts of the piano? I took mine out and noticed there isn't any obvious way I should set it down. Perhaps standing on one end, but then I don't want to lean it against the wall and risk damaging any of the parts.

[@enochl1149]

Thank you for your sharing of your precious experience. Could you record your video with louder volume? I turn my volume to the top, but still can't here loud enough. I watched almost every video you posted. Thanks.

[@howardpianoind]

I realize that some of our earlier videos have a volume issue. Most of the videos made in the past year should be better as I used a separate microphone. I know this particular video is one that was used before I had the separate mic so it's one of those that is a little harder to hear.

[@robertputnam9348]

I didn’t realize that many of the bridal straps were rotted and broken. Now that I’ve removed the action, I can’t get it back in place properly. Any suggestions?

[@YamiMoves]

Same here my notes ring out even tho everything seems in place any help on how you put it back ?

[@howardpianoind]

Yes, the problem with having broken bridle straps when you remove the action is that the jacks fall down to far without the straps to hold them in place which makes it so the top of the jacks get jammed up underneath the hammer butt felt rather than staying in front of the felt which forces the hammers forward so the action can’t function correctly. It’s best to replace the bridle straps if this is the case.

[@rinisugiarto844]

some times I can not really hear you. need turnup recording volume...just got it

[@Goodi8]

How about re-installing vertical Piano action.....

[@The_Eldest_Millenial]

Reverse of removal, like any installation. This is why marking and organizing your components as you go is important ;)

[@caimano655]

WELL!!!

[@othello7]

I cant slide mine out so easily. It is ridiculously tight.

[@bookguitarguy]

Make sure you removed all the bolts, or screws (on my piano), there might be some at the bottom you've missed. Mine has four screws along the bottom, one on each side at the top, and on in the back (top) where the bass and treble strings cross. If all of those are out, then just make sure nothing is blocking it, and pull harder. :O))