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.