CAUT

  • 1.  Celesta action

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-04-2016 11:24

    I have been told that a celesta is being brought in for a performance series and

    has a "broken key". I haven't see it yet and suspect it is the action and not the key

    causing the problem.

    I have searched online and found very little I actually thing is accurate. Any suggestions

    where I can see an action diagram before working on the instrument?

    Thanks in advance,

    Dave

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    Dave Conte
    Owner
    Fort Worth TX
    817-581-7321
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  • 2.  RE: Celesta action

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-04-2016 14:03
    What manufacture?


    Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone





  • 3.  RE: Celesta action

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-04-2016 18:53

    Hi, David.

    Thanks for your reply. I don't have that but will try to get it.

    Not sure they will know either, as I think it is being brought in

    for the series and may not arrive until I am scheduled to be

    there.

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    Dave Conte
    Owner
    Fort Worth TX
    817-581-7321



  • 4.  RE: Celesta action

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 12-04-2016 21:22

    Hi Dave,

    If it is a Schiedmayer, here is a manual from the class they gave at Norfolk this summer. That's really the only current manufacturer, though Yamaha makes something they call a celeste with a grand piano action (upward striking rather than down, and much narrower tone bars). 

    There are a lot of varieties of older instruments still kicking around. Mustel was the original French inventor, and there are quite a few of those. Jenco, a US percussion company, made a lot in the mid 20th century. I have done a fair bit of work on one, and described it in a thread here. I have also worked on a Mustel about 20 years back, but didn't take photos. It was more similar to Jenco than to Schiemayer.

    Hope that gives you a start, at least a hint of what you are facing. "Broken key" obviously just means non-functioning, and there are lots of possibilities. A displaced spring could do it, but whatever it is, it should be fairly obvious. They are different from pianos, but analogous in enough ways that it is just a matter of observation to find the problem.

    ------------------------------
    Fred Sturm
    University of New Mexico
    fssturm@unm.edu
    http://fredsturm.net
    http://www.artoftuning.com
    "We either make ourselves happy or miserable. The amount of work is the same." - Carlos Casteneda