String things

Pianos have a lot of strings.  Mine has 231.  There are 42 wound strings in the bass section, and 189 in the treble.  When a piano is designed, someone puts a lot of thought into the lengths and gauges of strings.  Ideally, all of the keys should produce notes with similar tone and volume to the adjacent keys, without any harsh transitions when the string gauges change.  I don't know enough to attempt to make any changes here, so I will be copying the current string gauges and buying identical replacements.  That was the plan, at least.

Can you spot what's wrong in this picture?  It isn't easy to tell, but the pair of strings on the right are not the same gauge.  The gauges of the strings differ by 0.005in.  When you look at them up close, you can see that the windings on the string on the right are larger than the one on the left.  They are both struck by the same hammer when the A2 key is played, and although they can both be tuned to the same note, the overtones they produce will not be identical.  It's a careless mistake made by a technician who fixed a broken string many years ago and replaced it with one of the wrong size.  This is not the only location where I found strings of the wrong gauge, but in all cases I can tell which size is correct, so I will be able to order the correct size when I replace them.

If a string was replaced with the correct gauge, it should be impossible to tell the difference, right?  You would hope so, but there is a skill to stringing a piano, and poor workmanship is obvious right away.  My piano book, in the section on evaluating a used piano, says to make sure "each string is wound neatly around the tuning pin three times, forming three neat coils."  The picture above is an example of repair work by someone who must not have known the basics of piano stringing.  In addition to the ugly coils, the tuning pin is visibly higher than the others, which means it will be looser and not stay in tune as well.

In the next installment:  hammers and regulation!

Key signatures

Last night, I removed the action from my piano to clean it a little bit.  One-by-one I removed each key and cleaned the sides (which were dark and nasty) and wiped down the ivory tops.  When I got to the 88th key, I found a surprise.

Jas. DeLucia   Fine Reg

Written on the side of this key was the name of the person who did the fine regulation of this piano. James DeLucia did the fine regulation of this piano.  (Jas. was a common abbreviation for James back then)  Regulation is the adjustment of the action mechanism, which includes everything from the keys to the hammers and everything in between.  There is a great movie on netflix called Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 that gets into how grand pianos are made today, which is the same as how they were made 100 years ago.  It's not that technical but they really do show just how many people it takes to make a grand piano.  Just clamping and gluing the thick plywood rim takes at least 10 people.  There are tuners and finishers and stringers.  There are people who fit the plate and people who cut the trees for the soundboards.  Probably the most skilled position of them all is the person who does the regulation. This piano is a piece of history as much as it is a musical instrument.

Look at the picture above and imagine that mechanism applied 88 times, once for each key.  There are a number of adjustments that can be made for each key to make sure it works correctly and feels the same as others.  That process of adjustments is called regulation.  It is a complicated mechanism, and I don't currently understand it entirely, but everything appears to be in good shape in my piano. My plan is to work on regulation before moving on to restringing or anything else major.  There are some obvious problems right now, including keys that wobble side-to-side and hammers that miss some of the strings.  A few keys are harder to push on than others and some just feel really off. It will take a while and there are a lot of strange tools I will need to get, but it is one of the first steps in rebuilding a piano.

Some notes on tuning

I got some basic tools in on Friday so I'm able to start messing with the piano a little more.  Tuning pins come in different sizes, and they only differ by a few thousandths of an inch.  I ordered a #2 size tuning wrench because #2 is "the most common size found on virtually all pianos produced worldwide over the last 100 years." The wrench worked but it wasn't a great fit.  This piano came with a broken (missing) treble string, so I removed one of the tuning pins for that string and measured it.

The size of 2/0 pins is 0.282in, and 1/0 is 0.276.  So, for whatever reason, my 1918 Weber baby grand piano came with size 1/0 pins instead of the standard 2/0.  From this, I can conclude a few things.  Typically if you restring a piano without building a new pinblock (the block of wood the tuning pins are threaded into), you increase the size of the pins to make them a little tighter.  Since this piano has 1/0 pins, it is probably safe to assume that these are the original strings and tuning pins.  

Next up, the pinblock.  Tuning pins are threaded into a block of wood called the pinblock.  Over time, the holes wear down and the pins get looser.  You can measure pin tightness with a torque wrench.  I ordered a tuning pin sized socket for my torque wrench and checked the torque required to turn a few of the pins.  Tuning pins should take somewhere around 90-110 in-lbs of torque to turn, as high as 140 still being acceptable.  More than is considered too tight making it difficult to tune.  Any less than that, and you have a piano that won't stay in tune for very long.  Long story short, mine measured in the 50-80 in-lb range.  That's bad, but it gets worse.

These dates and words in this picture tell a story.  Some time in the early 80's, the owner this piano wanted to start using it again.  The dates may correspond to having it tuned, but the part that has major implications here is the word PinTite.  When a piano won't stay in tune, and it isn't worth the time or money to restring with thicker tuning pins, you can apply something called pin tightener around the pins.  It is a liquid that absorbs into the wood, and causes the wood to absorb moisture, which then swells, tightening around the tuning pin.  Sounds great, but it is basically a short-term fix that can never be undone.  It may help for a few years, but after a while, the pin block ends up in worse shape than before and needs to be replaced.  Replacing a pinblock is no easy task, but if done well, will last for another 40-50 years.  It also requires all new strings and new tuning pins.  Basically, by the time I'm done, I'll have taken apart most of the piano and rebuilt it.  The good news is that most cleaning and repair operations are a lot easier once all of the strings are removed, so I'm not even attempting to do anything major until then.

Check out this action

Now that I have the piano in my condo, the next step is to figure out what condition it's in and what work needs to be done.  Overall, I'd say that the action (the mechanism which includes the keys and hammers and everything in between) is in phenomenal condition.  It is a little sloppy, but that is mostly due to the pieces of felt used everywhere being worn down.  Action can be improved, a process called regulation.  That will happen in a few weeks when I get the proper tools and figure out what needs to be done.

You can see here how the keys don't sit totally flush with each other.  This is due to many factors but it can be fixed.  To see inside, I really needed to remove the action.  This is supposed to be fairly easy, but things never go as planned.  Step one is to remove the key slip, which is the piece of wood directly in front of the keys.  It is held on by 3 screws underneath and is supposed to come right off.  Easier said than done.

The key slip didn't come off after I removed the screws.  I ended up using index cards as wedges, folding them over in attempts to pry the key slip off.  After around 45 minutes, I finally got it off, and discovered that there were 3 metal pins holding it in place.  Normally those pins are not too tight, but one of them rusted and bonded to the wood.  I sanded the rust off and moved along.  Next I removed the key blocks, which are the blocks of wood on the left and right side of the keyboard.  These were both held in with one screw from below.  They are also attached to the fallboard, which is the pivoting piece of wood which covers the keys when closed.

After that, the action really did slide right now.  It's heavy and awkward to carry, but really solid.  For the first time, I could see what was going on inside this piano when I pressed the keys.  I could also see why some keys weren't working as well as others.  A quick pass with the vacuum helped a lot.  There were bits of dried flowers inside that were causing some of the joints to stick.

One key had a crack in something called the key button, seen above.  It is the pivot point of the key, and the pin going through that wood is called the balance rail key pin.  I'm guessing this broke because the key was accidentally forced sideways at some point in it's history.  It will be an easy fix, when I get around to it.  There are pieces of felt on the left and right sides of each hole.  That felt has worn down significantly, which is why the keys wobble side-to-side.  Another easy, but time-consuming fix.

Here you can see a key button that was repaired at some point.  The repair looks pretty solid, so I see no need to do any work to it.  Now that I'm comfortable removing and replacing the action, I can start learning how it all works and what regulating work needs to be done.  For now, here are some more pictures.

What am I getting into?

I've been looking for a new project for the past few months.  I had some plans to fix my cracked mandolin or maybe build a Moroccan instrument called a Gimbri or Sintir.  A couple of weeks ago I came across someone who was trying to get rid of a piano.  His story was that he had a piano he needed to get rid of before Thanksgiving.  I correctly assumed that this meant he was hosting Thanksgiving and needed the space.  He said $500 or best offer, I offered $100, and he counter-offered with "free".  The condition was that I had to pay for it to be moved.  I talked to Tom Caruso from the New London-based Caruso Music sister company Pianos 2 Go, and we scheduled the move.  Before I go any further, I want to mention that Tom was really great to talk to and I highly recommend Pianos 2 Go if you need a piano moved anywhere in New England.  The two guys that did the move were really professional and knowledgeable.  They pointed out a few repairs on my piano and gave me a quick history lesson as they were moving it.




So it's a Weber Style LL Baby Grand Piano, and from the serial number I can date it to around 1918.  I was able to find a newspaper clipping online from December 16, 1915 stating "The Aeolian Co. has just announced a new Weber grand piano to be known as style LL. This piano is an unusually small grand, measuring only five feet long, and is now said to be the smallest grand piano made."  It measures 5 feet exactly, front-to-back, which is certainly on the smaller end of grand pianos.




My initial thoughts on the condition and work needed are still coming together.  Overall, it is really solid.  It hasn't been tuned in over 20 years, but shows minor wear.  Every key works, although most are in need of some adjustments.  All 3 pedals work with no issues.  There are no cracks in the cast iron plate.  The soundboard has a crack underneath the treble bridge, however this crack seems minor, is probably fixable, and has not resulted in any braces coming unglued.  I will know a little more in a week or two once I have some basic tools, but I'm very doubtful that this piano will hold a tune in it's current shape.  The work I am expecting to do would cost probably $4000+ for a professional to do, and it will likely cost me close to $1500 by the time I am done, half of that just going towards tools.  I will go into detail over the next few weeks regarding what all of these things mean, and why I feel they are necessary, but right now I am anticipating having to fabricate a new pin block (not easy), which will require a restring (not easy either), also.  The good news is that if I do these things well, this piano should have a life of 40+ years before it needs any major work again.  For now, I'll leave you with a few more random pictures.

Pedal steel is currently lap steel

So the Gibson Electraharp I've been working on is nearly complete. I managed to put the strings on tonight. Several notes:

1) Reattaching the springs is scary. I'm not sure how Gibson put these on originally, but I'm sure it was in some factory and they had a tool that made it much easier. The springs carry a lot of tension and it isn't easy to get them on.

2) Also, the pack of C6 pedal steel strings from D'Addarrio was missing a string. First time in my whole life that a string was missing from a set. I'll email the place I bought them from and hopefully they can send me a new set. The good news is that I bought 2 sets, and the other one was complete.

3) No pedals....yet. The pedal mechanism is complicated and flawed in design, so I haven't hooked it up yet. I'm honestly only a few hours of work away from having that all done, but it isn't that exciting because I don't expect that I'm going to be happy with the results.

4) I don't know how to play in C6 tuning. I'm happy to have it playable so I can start learning, but I'd say it will be a while before I can actually record anything with it.

5) The pickup does sound awesome. Very little hum, for a single coil. Very clean tone, very bright, as you'd expect. Does not sound like any guitar I own. I'll have to try it at louder volumes in the morning.

That's all for now. I'll try to get some pictures posted tomorrow and maybe some sound clips if I can figure out how to play something basic. I'd like to get the legs back on it, too, because it is a bit clunky to play on your lap.

Hacking the Gibson: Pickup Cover

I've been working on building the pickup cover lately. It's slow but I'm really happy with how its coming along. Ebony is really hard. Its like carving plastic. I tried routing this with my dremel at first but it was just making a lot of smoke without actually removing very much wood. I opted to use just a wood chisel and its working well. I have the cavity carved out now, I just need to make it about twice as deep and it will be done. The inside doesn't really need to be pretty since no one will see it. I also need to shine up the pole pieces on the pickup so they are nice and clean looking. It appears that the previous owner had painted them black. Once this is done, then all the woodworking is done and I can begin getting the rest of it together.