Pianotech

Resetting damper timing at the damper levers is routine. With the setscrew loose, set the damper lever height where you want it, run the set screw back in against the wire, and tighten it firmly. The most that will happen is that a head will twist, and that's a routine correction. Not on this 1963 Stwy M.

While resetting an extremely early damper timing to coordinate it with a fresh action regulation, I found ten setscrews completely frozen in their barrels. I replaced 8, and 2 more were happy with new set screws (from what I had on hand). I did some wire bending to get the wires slipping nicely in the damper posts , and also decided to replace all the original set screws (with bunged-up heads and shallow blade slots) for new from Stwy NY. Then the nightmare began.

About halfway into the barrels, the run-down torque increased dramatically. And it got noisy, like the sound of squeaking bed-frame springs, or a duck talking to itself ( - minus the "q" but with the opening diphthong  "ua"). In fact, the tight grip between the two threads completely masked the set-screw arrival at the wire. With out this feedback, the only sign that the wire was locked down was a twisted head.

But even after realligning head (with a final tighten on the screw for good measure), there were still a dozen or so which, after a few minutes, would let their levers drop down. On these, the only tightening I felt sure of was with vice grip pliers biting down hard on the screw heads. The only test I felt comfortable with was rotating the heads 10º degrees 1.) to make sure that with this, no screws would decide to mysteriously loosen up, and 2.) to confirm that they all snapped back firmly. There was no "sproing" noise to be heard , but it was definitely visible.

I did test to see if there was anything about the combination of the original barrels and the new setscrews. With a new setscrew in one of the 8 originally frozen barrels, the screw turned down beautifully and locked a damper wire firmly. So it wasn't the extreme run-down torque at work here.

I don't trust this situation. Has anyone else hard this nightmare? (Believe my, I already eliminated a few possibilities.)  

TIA

Resetting damper timing at the damper levers is routine. With the setscrew loose, set the damper lever height where you want it, run the set screw back in against the wire, and tighten it firmly. The most that will happen is that a head will twist, and that's a routine correction. Not on this 1963 Stwy M.

While resetting an extremely early damper timing to coordinate it with a fresh action regulation, I found ten setscrews completely frozen in their barrels. I replaced 8, and 2 more were happy with new set screws (from what I had on hand). I did some wire bending to get the wires slipping nicely in the damper posts , and also decided to replace all the original set screws (with bunged-up heads and shallow blade slots) for new from Stwy NY. Then the nightmare began.

About halfway into the barrels, the run-down torque increased dramatically. And it got noisy, like the sound of squeaking bed-frame springs, or a duck talking to itself ( - minus the "q" but with the opening diphthong  "ua"). In fact, the tight grip between the two threads completely masked the set-screw arrival at the wire. With out this feedback, the only sign that the wire was locked down was a twisted head.

But even after realligning head (with a final tighten on the screw for good measure), there were still a dozen or so which, after a few minutes, would let their levers drop down. On these, the only tightening I felt sure of was with vice grip pliers biting down hard on the screw heads. The only test I felt comfortable with was rotating the heads 10º degrees 1.) to make sure that with this, no screws would decide to mysteriously loosen up, and 2.) to confirm that they all snapped back firmly. There was no "sproing" noise to be heard , but it was definitely visible.

I did test to see if there was anything about the combination of the original barrels and the new setscrews. With a new setscrew in one of the 8 originally frozen barrels, the screw turned down beautifully and locked a damper wire firmly. So it wasn't the extreme run-down torque at work here.

I don't trust this situation. Has anyone else hard this nightmare? (Believe my, I already eliminated a few possibilities.)  

TIA

Resetting damper timing at the damper levers is routine. With the setscrew loose, set the damper lever height where you want it, run the set screw back in against the wire, and tighten it firmly. The most that will happen is that a head will twist, and that's a routine correction. Not on this 1963 Stwy M.

While resetting an extremely early damper timing to coordinate it with a fresh action regulation, I found ten setscrews completely frozen in their barrels. I replaced 8, and 2 more were happy with new set screws (from what I had on hand). I did some wire bending to get the wires slipping nicely in the damper posts , and also decided to replace all the original set screws (with bunged-up heads and shallow blade slots) for new from Stwy NY. Then the nightmare began.

About halfway into the barrels, the run-down torque increased dramatically. And it got noisy, like the sound of squeaking bed-frame springs, or a duck talking to itself ( - minus the "q" but with the opening diphthong  "ua"). In fact, the tight grip between the two threads completely masked the set-screw arrival at the wire. With out this feedback, the only sign that the wire was locked down was a twisted head.

But even after realligning head (with a final tighten on the screw for good measure), there were still a dozen or so which, after a few minutes, would let their levers drop down. On these, the only tightening I felt sure of was with vice grip pliers biting down hard on the screw heads. The only test I felt comfortable with was rotating the heads 10º degrees 1.) to make sure that with this, no screws would decide to mysteriously loosen up, and 2.) to confirm that they all snapped back firmly. There was no "sproing" noise to be heard , but it was definitely visible.

I did test to see if there was anything about the combination of the original barrels and the new setscrews. With a new setscrew in one of the 8 originally frozen barrels, the screw turned down beautifully and locked a damper wire firmly. So it wasn't the extreme run-down torque at work here.

I don't trust this situation. Has anyone else hard this nightmare? (Believe my, I already eliminated a few possibilities.)  

TIA

Resetting damper timing at the damper levers is routine. With the setscrew loose, set the damper lever height where you want it, run the set screw back in against the wire, and tighten it firmly. The most that will happen is that a head will twist, and that's a routine correction. Not on this 1963 Stwy M.

While resetting an extremely early damper timing to coordinate it with a fresh action regulation, I found ten setscrews completely frozen in their barrels. I replaced 8, and 2 more were happy with new set screws (from what I had on hand). I did some wire bending to get the wires slipping nicely in the damper posts , and also decided to replace all the original set screws (with bunged-up heads and shallow blade slots) for new from Stwy NY. Then the nightmare began.

About halfway into the barrels, the run-down torque increased dramatically. And it got noisy, like the sound of squeaking bed-frame springs, or a duck talking to itself ( - minus the "q" but with the opening diphthong  "ua"). In fact, the tight grip between the two threads completely masked the set-screw arrival at the wire. With out this feedback, the only sign that the wire was locked down was a twisted head.

But even after realligning head (with a final tighten on the screw for good measure), there were still a dozen or so which, after a few minutes, would let their levers drop down. On these, the only tightening I felt sure of was with vice grip pliers biting down hard on the screw heads. The only test I felt comfortable with was rotating the heads 10º degrees 1.) to make sure that with this, no screws would decide to mysteriously loosen up, and 2.) to confirm that they all snapped back firmly. There was no "sproing" noise to be heard , but it was definitely visible.

I did test to see if there was anything about the combination of the original barrels and the new setscrews. With a new setscrew in one of the 8 originally frozen barrels, the screw turned down beautifully and locked a damper wire firmly. So it wasn't the extreme run-down torque at work here.

I don't trust this situation. Has anyone else hard this nightmare? (Believe my, I already eliminated a few possibilities.)  

TIA

Resetting damper timing at the damper levers is routine. With the setscrew loose, set the damper lever height where you want it, run the set screw back in against the wire, and tighten it firmly. The most that will happen is that a head will twist, and that's a routine correction. Not on this 1963 Stwy M.

While resetting an extremely early damper timing to coordinate it with a fresh action regulation, I found ten setscrews completely frozen in their barrels. I replaced 8, and 2 more were happy with new set screws (from what I had on hand). I did some wire bending to get the wires slipping nicely in the damper posts , and also decided to replace all the original set screws (with bunged-up heads and shallow blade slots) for new from Stwy NY. Then the nightmare began.

About halfway into the barrels, the run-down torque increased dramatically. And it got noisy, like the sound of squeaking bed-frame springs, or a duck talking to itself ( - minus the "q" but with the opening diphthong  "ua"). In fact, the tight grip between the two threads completely masked the set-screw arrival at the wire. With out this feedback, the only sign that the wire was locked down was a twisted head.

But even after realligning head (with a final tighten on the screw for good measure), there were still a dozen or so which, after a few minutes, would let their levers drop down. On these, the only tightening I felt sure of was with vice grip pliers biting down hard on the screw heads. The only test I felt comfortable with was rotating the heads 10º degrees 1.) to make sure that with this, no screws would decide to mysteriously loosen up, and 2.) to confirm that they all snapped back firmly. There was no "sproing" noise to be heard , but it was definitely visible.

I did test to see if there was anything about the combination of the original barrels and the new setscrews. With a new setscrew in one of the 8 originally frozen barrels, the screw turned down beautifully and locked a damper wire firmly. So it wasn't the extreme run-down torque at work here.

I don't trust this situation. Has anyone else hard this nightmare? (Believe my, I already eliminated a few possibilities.)  

TIA

Resetting damper timing at the damper levers is routine. With the setscrew loose, set the damper lever height where you want it, run the set screw back in against the wire, and tighten it firmly. The most that will happen is that a head will twist, and that's a routine correction. Not on this 1963 Stwy M.

While resetting an extremely early damper timing to coordinate it with a fresh action regulation, I found ten setscrews completely frozen in their barrels. I replaced 8, and 2 more were happy with new set screws (from what I had on hand). I did some wire bending to get the wires slipping nicely in the damper posts , and also decided to replace all the original set screws (with bunged-up heads and shallow blade slots) for new from Stwy NY. Then the nightmare began.

About halfway into the barrels, the run-down torque increased dramatically. And it got noisy, like the sound of squeaking bed-frame springs, or a duck talking to itself ( - minus the "q" but with the opening diphthong  "ua"). In fact, the tight grip between the two threads completely masked the set-screw arrival at the wire. With out this feedback, the only sign that the wire was locked down was a twisted head.

But even after realligning head (with a final tighten on the screw for good measure), there were still a dozen or so which, after a few minutes, would let their levers drop down. On these, the only tightening I felt sure of was with vice grip pliers biting down hard on the screw heads. The only test I felt comfortable with was rotating the heads 10º degrees 1.) to make sure that with this, no screws would decide to mysteriously loosen up, and 2.) to confirm that they all snapped back firmly. There was no "sproing" noise to be heard , but it was definitely visible.

I did test to see if there was anything about the combination of the original barrels and the new setscrews. With a new setscrew in one of the 8 originally frozen barrels, the screw turned down beautifully and locked a damper wire firmly. So it wasn't the extreme run-down torque at work here.

I don't trust this situation. Has anyone else hard this nightmare? (Believe my, I already eliminated a few possibilities.)  

TIA

Resetting damper timing at the damper levers is routine. With the setscrew loose, set the damper lever height where you want it, run the set screw back in against the wire, and tighten it firmly. The most that will happen is that a head will twist, and that's a routine correction. Not on this 1963 Stwy M.

While resetting an extremely early damper timing to coordinate it with a fresh action regulation, I found ten setscrews completely frozen in their barrels. I replaced 8, and 2 more were happy with new set screws (from what I had on hand). I did some wire bending to get the wires slipping nicely in the damper posts , and also decided to replace all the original set screws (with bunged-up heads and shallow blade slots) for new from Stwy NY. Then the nightmare began.

About halfway into the barrels, the run-down torque increased dramatically. And it got noisy, like the sound of squeaking bed-frame springs, or a duck talking to itself ( - minus the "q" but with the opening diphthong  "ua"). In fact, the tight grip between the two threads completely masked the set-screw arrival at the wire. With out this feedback, the only sign that the wire was locked down was a twisted head.

But even after realligning head (with a final tighten on the screw for good measure), there were still a dozen or so which, after a few minutes, would let their levers drop down. On these, the only tightening I felt sure of was with vice grip pliers biting down hard on the screw heads. The only test I felt comfortable with was rotating the heads 10º degrees 1.) to make sure that with this, no screws would decide to mysteriously loosen up, and 2.) to confirm that they all snapped back firmly. There was no "sproing" noise to be heard , but it was definitely visible.

I did test to see if there was anything about the combination of the original barrels and the new setscrews. With a new setscrew in one of the 8 originally frozen barrels, the screw turned down beautifully and locked a damper wire firmly. So it wasn't the extreme run-down torque at work here.

I don't trust this situation. Has anyone else hard this nightmare? (Believe my, I already eliminated a few possibilities.)  

TIA

Resetting damper timing at the damper levers is routine. With the setscrew loose, set the damper lever height where you want it, run the set screw back in against the wire, and tighten it firmly. The most that will happen is that a head will twist, and that's a routine correction. Not on this 1963 Stwy M.

While resetting an extremely early damper timing to coordinate it with a fresh action regulation, I found ten setscrews completely frozen in their barrels. I replaced 8, and 2 more were happy with new set screws (from what I had on hand). I did some wire bending to get the wires slipping nicely in the damper posts , and also decided to replace all the original set screws (with bunged-up heads and shallow blade slots) for new from Stwy NY. Then the nightmare began.

About halfway into the barrels, the run-down torque increased dramatically. And it got noisy, like the sound of squeaking bed-frame springs, or a duck talking to itself ( - minus the "q" but with the opening diphthong  "ua"). In fact, the tight grip between the two threads completely masked the set-screw arrival at the wire. With out this feedback, the only sign that the wire was locked down was a twisted head.

But even after realligning head (with a final tighten on the screw for good measure), there were still a dozen or so which, after a few minutes, would let their levers drop down. On these, the only tightening I felt sure of was with vice grip pliers biting down hard on the screw heads. The only test I felt comfortable with was rotating the heads 10º degrees 1.) to make sure that with this, no screws would decide to mysteriously loosen up, and 2.) to confirm that they all snapped back firmly. There was no "sproing" noise to be heard , but it was definitely visible.

I did test to see if there was anything about the combination of the original barrels and the new setscrews. With a new setscrew in one of the 8 originally frozen barrels, the screw turned down beautifully and locked a damper wire firmly. So it wasn't the extreme run-down torque at work here.

I don't trust this situation. Has anyone else hard this nightmare? (Believe my, I already eliminated a few possibilities.)  

TIA