Pianotech

List,
Just finished my first celesta repair and regulation. The patient was a  3 octave Jen-Co celesta, which is considered  low  on the quality scale for celestas. That being said, an interesting learning curve to say the least. Thank you Fred Sturm for your helpful insight as  the serious head-scratching moments were kept to a minimum.
Work completed:
Removed and serviced all 3 racks of tone bars and hammer mechanisms.
Installed hold down screws for each hammer flange ( all were a glue-in type and all had come unglued). Very similar to the older Steinway backaction glued-in damper lever approach.
Rebush key bushings
Restring tone bars ( all strings were broke) The suggestion was to not restring with the nylon type string, but use 80lb fishing monofilament line.  Supposed to have good wear and better resonance
Replace damper felts, and a made a small dampening improvement to help with better dampening.
Regulate action ( again, thank you Fred Sturn for his advise). Since there is no let-off, the trick is to find a sweet spot between hammer blow and key dip. The hammer cannot block against the tone bar in a fff blow so you have to play around with the relationship between blow and dip until you find a good relationship. I ended up raising the key height a tad, then ended up with a 11.5 key dip and a 50 mm hammer blow
Regulate damper lift
Did not get into tuning the tone bars as they were right in the ballpark.

So a few thoughts:
1. With the advancement of the piano action already fully developed by the time celestas came onto the scene, why on earth didn't Jenco take note of the piano mechanism and incorporate that into their design? I can't speak for other celesta manufactures, but this particular design is archaic at best.
2. Celesta's in general, have a heavy clunky feel their action. I had assumed that's because of a cumbersome mechanism. No, its because there's an incredibly tight return spring. Plus with very flimsy made keysticks, you couldn't even begin to weight-off the action in the traditional piano approach. Again, they could have taken note of from the piano community and incorporated some of the piano functions  into their system.
3. I realize there aren't a lot of celestas out there. And I'm sure this isn't cost prohibitive, but I would think someone could design a let-off system that could be incorporated in the Jenco design. Again, I can't speak for other celesta manufactures, but the Jenco design is begging for someone to step forward and bring this up to a better level. And these aren't cheap. I was told that the good 5 octave Yamaha and Sheidmayer celestas are in the $45,000 range. Used 3 octave Jenco's in reasonable condition are in the $9,000 range. My client found this in horrible condition for $2500, so he was thrilled. This instrument will be put into his rental percussion inventory for all traveling orchestras coming through the SE USA.


------------------------------
Tom Servinsky
------------------------------

Good for you Tom. We have a 5 octave Shiedmayer over here, but don't ask me how it works. I requested some alone time with it last summer during the off-season and got turned down. It might take an emergency on the keyboard's part for the bosses to see that my request was important..at least give me a chance to have some knowledge about the keyboard I'm suppose to care for..

------------------------------
-Phil Bondi
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2017 18:58
From: Thomas Servinsky
Subject: My first Celesta repair

List,
Just finished my first celesta repair and regulation. The patient was a  3 octave Jen-Co celesta, which is considered  low  on the quality scale for celestas. That being said, an interesting learning curve to say the least. Thank you Fred Sturm for your helpful insight as  the serious head-scratching moments were kept to a minimum.
Work completed:
Removed and serviced all 3 racks of tone bars and hammer mechanisms.
Installed hold down screws for each hammer flange ( all were a glue-in type and all had come unglued). Very similar to the older Steinway backaction glued-in damper lever approach.
Rebush key bushings
Restring tone bars ( all strings were broke) The suggestion was to not restring with the nylon type string, but use 80lb fishing monofilament line.  Supposed to have good wear and better resonance
Replace damper felts, and a made a small dampening improvement to help with better dampening.
Regulate action ( again, thank you Fred Sturn for his advise). Since there is no let-off, the trick is to find a sweet spot between hammer blow and key dip. The hammer cannot block against the tone bar in a fff blow so you have to play around with the relationship between blow and dip until you find a good relationship. I ended up raising the key height a tad, then ended up with a 11.5 key dip and a 50 mm hammer blow
Regulate damper lift
Did not get into tuning the tone bars as they were right in the ballpark.

So a few thoughts:
1. With the advancement of the piano action already fully developed by the time celestas came onto the scene, why on earth didn't Jenco take note of the piano mechanism and incorporate that into their design? I can't speak for other celesta manufactures, but this particular design is archaic at best.
2. Celesta's in general, have a heavy clunky feel their action. I had assumed that's because of a cumbersome mechanism. No, its because there's an incredibly tight return spring. Plus with very flimsy made keysticks, you couldn't even begin to weight-off the action in the traditional piano approach. Again, they could have taken note of from the piano community and incorporated some of the piano functions  into their system.
3. I realize there aren't a lot of celestas out there. And I'm sure this isn't cost prohibitive, but I would think someone could design a let-off system that could be incorporated in the Jenco design. Again, I can't speak for other celesta manufactures, but the Jenco design is begging for someone to step forward and bring this up to a better level. And these aren't cheap. I was told that the good 5 octave Yamaha and Sheidmayer celestas are in the $45,000 range. Used 3 octave Jenco's in reasonable condition are in the $9,000 range. My client found this in horrible condition for $2500, so he was thrilled. This instrument will be put into his rental percussion inventory for all traveling orchestras coming through the SE USA.


------------------------------
Tom Servinsky
------------------------------

I have worked on both Scheidmayer and Jenco Celestes.

The first thing at least monthly thing to do with a Scheidmayer is to tighten all the screws that hold the case together. Those things get loose and the regulation goes south. Why they don't put a welded steel frame around that thing I'll never know. For the price it sure is a poorly engineered thing.

On the Jenco I got the smaller parachute type cord to replace the bar suspension system. I think it stretches less over time than monofilament. At least that is what the man who has what is left of Deagan in Chicago told me over the phone and he repairs many Celestes. I found it at my local Army/Navy supply store which just happened to be a half mile from my shop. I had to find some hammer return coil springs and replaced them all. No doubt John Rhodes could specify a better type of wire and spring shape to reduce spring failure in the Jenco action.

The actions are clunky because the hammers are weighted. You can reduce the weight and harden the felt if needed. I found some of the resonator boxs to be too far off mode to function well and this produced some weak notes. Didn't make new ones as time and money was not infinite.

That said after I finished the Jenco I though it was very competitive with the more esteemed Scheidmayer.

------------------------------
Edward McMorrow
Edmonds WA
425-299-3431
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2017 19:26
From: Phil Bondi
Subject: My first Celesta repair

Good for you Tom. We have a 5 octave Shiedmayer over here, but don't ask me how it works. I requested some alone time with it last summer during the off-season and got turned down. It might take an emergency on the keyboard's part for the bosses to see that my request was important..at least give me a chance to have some knowledge about the keyboard I'm suppose to care for..

------------------------------
-Phil Bondi
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2017 18:58
From: Thomas Servinsky
Subject: My first Celesta repair

List,
Just finished my first celesta repair and regulation. The patient was a  3 octave Jen-Co celesta, which is considered  low  on the quality scale for celestas. That being said, an interesting learning curve to say the least. Thank you Fred Sturm for your helpful insight as  the serious head-scratching moments were kept to a minimum.
Work completed:
Removed and serviced all 3 racks of tone bars and hammer mechanisms.
Installed hold down screws for each hammer flange ( all were a glue-in type and all had come unglued). Very similar to the older Steinway backaction glued-in damper lever approach.
Rebush key bushings
Restring tone bars ( all strings were broke) The suggestion was to not restring with the nylon type string, but use 80lb fishing monofilament line.  Supposed to have good wear and better resonance
Replace damper felts, and a made a small dampening improvement to help with better dampening.
Regulate action ( again, thank you Fred Sturn for his advise). Since there is no let-off, the trick is to find a sweet spot between hammer blow and key dip. The hammer cannot block against the tone bar in a fff blow so you have to play around with the relationship between blow and dip until you find a good relationship. I ended up raising the key height a tad, then ended up with a 11.5 key dip and a 50 mm hammer blow
Regulate damper lift
Did not get into tuning the tone bars as they were right in the ballpark.

So a few thoughts:
1. With the advancement of the piano action already fully developed by the time celestas came onto the scene, why on earth didn't Jenco take note of the piano mechanism and incorporate that into their design? I can't speak for other celesta manufactures, but this particular design is archaic at best.
2. Celesta's in general, have a heavy clunky feel their action. I had assumed that's because of a cumbersome mechanism. No, its because there's an incredibly tight return spring. Plus with very flimsy made keysticks, you couldn't even begin to weight-off the action in the traditional piano approach. Again, they could have taken note of from the piano community and incorporated some of the piano functions  into their system.
3. I realize there aren't a lot of celestas out there. And I'm sure this isn't cost prohibitive, but I would think someone could design a let-off system that could be incorporated in the Jenco design. Again, I can't speak for other celesta manufactures, but the Jenco design is begging for someone to step forward and bring this up to a better level. And these aren't cheap. I was told that the good 5 octave Yamaha and Sheidmayer celestas are in the $45,000 range. Used 3 octave Jenco's in reasonable condition are in the $9,000 range. My client found this in horrible condition for $2500, so he was thrilled. This instrument will be put into his rental percussion inventory for all traveling orchestras coming through the SE USA.


------------------------------
Tom Servinsky
------------------------------

Ed,That's an excellent thought about using parachute cord. If I get another shot at another one, I'll add that to the list. Mono fishing line does stretch over time, but usually when its under a lot of tension. I did add an additional screw where the string is anchored to the spring to allow for tension increase. The additional screw aids in adding or removing tension when needed.
 Interesting you mentioned about the tone resonators. My top row at a much more superior tone resonance than the other 2. I tried altering the string tension to see if there was enough to make a concerted change, and there was not.  The back end of the resonators rested on a tacked in 1.5" rest block, but only on the left side which I found odd. I ended up putting screwed in support blocks for both sides and did find that the slight tonal improvement occurred for all 3 ranks.
All in all, I was able to get a pretty decent and consistent voicing throughout the entire keyboard. 
As far as the clunky feel, I failed to mention that the hammer head did have a lead weight.  I should have experimented with removing the weight and see how much of a change that would have made. Again, if I get a shot a another one, that will be on my list of to-do's.
As much as I complained about having to do this particular job, I did find a level of joy and curiosity that kicked in. Once that I figured out the mechanism, it challenge was very satisfying.  
Thanks for your thoughts, Ed

------------------------------
Tom Servinsky
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2017 22:02
From: Edward McMorrow
Subject: My first Celesta repair

I have worked on both Scheidmayer and Jenco Celestes.

The first thing at least monthly thing to do with a Scheidmayer is to tighten all the screws that hold the case together. Those things get loose and the regulation goes south. Why they don't put a welded steel frame around that thing I'll never know. For the price it sure is a poorly engineered thing.

On the Jenco I got the smaller parachute type cord to replace the bar suspension system. I think it stretches less over time than monofilament. At least that is what the man who has what is left of Deagan in Chicago told me over the phone and he repairs many Celestes. I found it at my local Army/Navy supply store which just happened to be a half mile from my shop. I had to find some hammer return coil springs and replaced them all. No doubt John Rhodes could specify a better type of wire and spring shape to reduce spring failure in the Jenco action.

The actions are clunky because the hammers are weighted. You can reduce the weight and harden the felt if needed. I found some of the resonator boxs to be too far off mode to function well and this produced some weak notes. Didn't make new ones as time and money was not infinite.

That said after I finished the Jenco I though it was very competitive with the more esteemed Scheidmayer.

------------------------------
Edward McMorrow
Edmonds WA
425-299-3431
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2017 19:26
From: Phil Bondi
Subject: My first Celesta repair

Good for you Tom. We have a 5 octave Shiedmayer over here, but don't ask me how it works. I requested some alone time with it last summer during the off-season and got turned down. It might take an emergency on the keyboard's part for the bosses to see that my request was important..at least give me a chance to have some knowledge about the keyboard I'm suppose to care for..

------------------------------
-Phil Bondi
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2017 18:58
From: Thomas Servinsky
Subject: My first Celesta repair

List,
Just finished my first celesta repair and regulation. The patient was a  3 octave Jen-Co celesta, which is considered  low  on the quality scale for celestas. That being said, an interesting learning curve to say the least. Thank you Fred Sturm for your helpful insight as  the serious head-scratching moments were kept to a minimum.
Work completed:
Removed and serviced all 3 racks of tone bars and hammer mechanisms.
Installed hold down screws for each hammer flange ( all were a glue-in type and all had come unglued). Very similar to the older Steinway backaction glued-in damper lever approach.
Rebush key bushings
Restring tone bars ( all strings were broke) The suggestion was to not restring with the nylon type string, but use 80lb fishing monofilament line.  Supposed to have good wear and better resonance
Replace damper felts, and a made a small dampening improvement to help with better dampening.
Regulate action ( again, thank you Fred Sturn for his advise). Since there is no let-off, the trick is to find a sweet spot between hammer blow and key dip. The hammer cannot block against the tone bar in a fff blow so you have to play around with the relationship between blow and dip until you find a good relationship. I ended up raising the key height a tad, then ended up with a 11.5 key dip and a 50 mm hammer blow
Regulate damper lift
Did not get into tuning the tone bars as they were right in the ballpark.

So a few thoughts:
1. With the advancement of the piano action already fully developed by the time celestas came onto the scene, why on earth didn't Jenco take note of the piano mechanism and incorporate that into their design? I can't speak for other celesta manufactures, but this particular design is archaic at best.
2. Celesta's in general, have a heavy clunky feel their action. I had assumed that's because of a cumbersome mechanism. No, its because there's an incredibly tight return spring. Plus with very flimsy made keysticks, you couldn't even begin to weight-off the action in the traditional piano approach. Again, they could have taken note of from the piano community and incorporated some of the piano functions  into their system.
3. I realize there aren't a lot of celestas out there. And I'm sure this isn't cost prohibitive, but I would think someone could design a let-off system that could be incorporated in the Jenco design. Again, I can't speak for other celesta manufactures, but the Jenco design is begging for someone to step forward and bring this up to a better level. And these aren't cheap. I was told that the good 5 octave Yamaha and Sheidmayer celestas are in the $45,000 range. Used 3 octave Jenco's in reasonable condition are in the $9,000 range. My client found this in horrible condition for $2500, so he was thrilled. This instrument will be put into his rental percussion inventory for all traveling orchestras coming through the SE USA.


------------------------------
Tom Servinsky
------------------------------

Phil
Judging from what I discovered, the biggest problem is if the string holding the tone bars break. Its one long continuous string that feeds through one of the tone bars from end to the other, than is fed to the other side of the tone bars and continues on.
This one had string knots under some bars where emergency repairs made in the past.
Most likely you'll be faced with removing the affected tone rank, which means unhooking all of the extension levers ( and keeping them all in order) plus the damper pedal rod. Then the resonator ranks can be easily removed and worked on comfortably on the bench. You could probably do a entire stringing of one rank of tone bars ( dis-assembly, string replace, reassemble) in a few hours top.

------------------------------
Tom Servinsky
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2017 19:26
From: Phil Bondi
Subject: My first Celesta repair

Good for you Tom. We have a 5 octave Shiedmayer over here, but don't ask me how it works. I requested some alone time with it last summer during the off-season and got turned down. It might take an emergency on the keyboard's part for the bosses to see that my request was important..at least give me a chance to have some knowledge about the keyboard I'm suppose to care for..

------------------------------
-Phil Bondi
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2017 18:58
From: Thomas Servinsky
Subject: My first Celesta repair

List,
Just finished my first celesta repair and regulation. The patient was a  3 octave Jen-Co celesta, which is considered  low  on the quality scale for celestas. That being said, an interesting learning curve to say the least. Thank you Fred Sturm for your helpful insight as  the serious head-scratching moments were kept to a minimum.
Work completed:
Removed and serviced all 3 racks of tone bars and hammer mechanisms.
Installed hold down screws for each hammer flange ( all were a glue-in type and all had come unglued). Very similar to the older Steinway backaction glued-in damper lever approach.
Rebush key bushings
Restring tone bars ( all strings were broke) The suggestion was to not restring with the nylon type string, but use 80lb fishing monofilament line.  Supposed to have good wear and better resonance
Replace damper felts, and a made a small dampening improvement to help with better dampening.
Regulate action ( again, thank you Fred Sturn for his advise). Since there is no let-off, the trick is to find a sweet spot between hammer blow and key dip. The hammer cannot block against the tone bar in a fff blow so you have to play around with the relationship between blow and dip until you find a good relationship. I ended up raising the key height a tad, then ended up with a 11.5 key dip and a 50 mm hammer blow
Regulate damper lift
Did not get into tuning the tone bars as they were right in the ballpark.

So a few thoughts:
1. With the advancement of the piano action already fully developed by the time celestas came onto the scene, why on earth didn't Jenco take note of the piano mechanism and incorporate that into their design? I can't speak for other celesta manufactures, but this particular design is archaic at best.
2. Celesta's in general, have a heavy clunky feel their action. I had assumed that's because of a cumbersome mechanism. No, its because there's an incredibly tight return spring. Plus with very flimsy made keysticks, you couldn't even begin to weight-off the action in the traditional piano approach. Again, they could have taken note of from the piano community and incorporated some of the piano functions  into their system.
3. I realize there aren't a lot of celestas out there. And I'm sure this isn't cost prohibitive, but I would think someone could design a let-off system that could be incorporated in the Jenco design. Again, I can't speak for other celesta manufactures, but the Jenco design is begging for someone to step forward and bring this up to a better level. And these aren't cheap. I was told that the good 5 octave Yamaha and Sheidmayer celestas are in the $45,000 range. Used 3 octave Jenco's in reasonable condition are in the $9,000 range. My client found this in horrible condition for $2500, so he was thrilled. This instrument will be put into his rental percussion inventory for all traveling orchestras coming through the SE USA.


------------------------------
Tom Servinsky
------------------------------