Pianotech

Hello all,

Yesterday I had an awkward time opening a Story & Clark baby grand. Some time later I accidentally figured out how to pull off the music desk, much to my chagrin but the client was very gracious. Hopefully this will help others avoid the same pitfall...

The music desk had only enough room to slide it back about an inch, and removing the stops allowed it to move about 2-1/2". It looked like it should lift out, but a piece of brass screwed into the underside prevented it. See the attached pictures. 

Eventually I discovered (quite by accident) that there is a cut out in the treble side that allows the brass piece to be slide out and the music desk to be removed. This allowed me to finally get on with the tuning. In this case the cut out was found by sliding the music desk until it was about one finger’s worth away from the stops.

For the record, the Story & Clark grands I've seen have a different system for removing the action than most other American brands. Remove the fallboard first, then the cheekblocks will unscrew from within the action cavity, not from underneath. Then you can remove the action as usual.

Hope this helps someone avoid making the same mistake. Happy tuning!

------------------------------
Benjamin Sanchez
Professional Piano Services
(805)315-8050
www.professional-piano-services.com
------------------------------

that is not uncommon or limited to just story and clark .the best way to find the cut out is to lift up lightly as you slide the music desk back and forth to find the relief cut. i have run into many pianos that have clever ways to attach case parts such as using keyhole slots and screws making it necessary to slide panels around to get them off. the music desk can often be very hard to remove when it is a mortise and tendon slide rail and a tight fit. i had a young chang grand at a high school that was a bear. i finally took the desk yo my shop and using a dremel saw with a plastic cutting blade and taping the polyester to prevent chip out took of about 1/8 inch. clean cut and the desk worked like greased lightening .  plenty of grands have screws holding the cheek blocks in with screws inside going down at an angle. to get the screws out you often have to hold down A0 an C8 to get the screwdriver blade on the screw head . once inside you may find the action has two more blocks on the keyframe holding it down, its a good idea to mark b on the front of the bass block and t on the treble block . dont mix up the screws !

------------------------------
James Kelly
Pawleys Island SC
843-325-4357
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-21-2019 16:31
From: Benjamin Sanchez
Subject: Opening a Story & Clark Grand

Hello all,

Yesterday I had an awkward time opening a Story & Clark baby grand. Some time later I accidentally figured out how to pull off the music desk, much to my chagrin but the client was very gracious. Hopefully this will help others avoid the same pitfall...

The music desk had only enough room to slide it back about an inch, and removing the stops allowed it to move about 2-1/2". It looked like it should lift out, but a piece of brass screwed into the underside prevented it. See the attached pictures.

Eventually I discovered (quite by accident) that there is a cut out in the treble side that allows the brass piece to be slide out and the music desk to be removed. This allowed me to finally get on with the tuning.

For the record, the Story & Clark grands I've seen have a different system for removing the action than most other American brands. Remove the fallboard first, then the cheekblocks will unscrew from within the action cavity, not from underneath. Then you can remove the action as usual.

Hope this helps someone avoid making the same mistake. Happy tuning!

------------------------------
Benjamin Sanchez
Professional Piano Services
(805)315-8050
www.professional-piano-services.com
------------------------------