Fixing an old piano/horse w/a broken leg...

[bassteban]

I imagine many of us are aware that the plethora of cheap or free pianos on CL are more than likely not even worth picking up as the cost of repairs ends up far outweighing the value of the end product.
That said, we bought a decent-looking(in pics )mahogany-cased console piano a couple of years ago. Turned out *alright*- badly refinned but looks OK from 5 feet away, plays OK but slightly out of tune. One key has recently begun to stick(actually drop down)intermittently, so last night I undid a couple of cover panels to see what I might be able to accomplish(famous lat words). I adjusted the sustain pedal to actually function and vaccuumed out several pounds of dust buffalo- amazingly, the sticking key is mostly cleared up.
So my questions are 1. Is a tuning wrench something I'll find in a hick town mom & pop music store, & 2. Any advice on getting the sticking key to cooperate a little better?
I'll try & get pics up later.

[bassteban]

Not that I expected much attention this quickly, mind you.
Got the innards exposed & will vaccuum it as well as possible, taking care around the fragile parts. It's a convoluted path from key to string, w/all sorts of weird little string, leather, wire * wood parts that each do something in going from fingertip to sound. Amazing stuff.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Pianos are sort of mechanical masterpieces. To me anyway.

That said I have rejected (surprizes even me ) even some free ones.

IME, while a passable tuning and repairs can be performed by a DIYer, a pro can do it 10 times better.

The best way to diagnose the dropping key problem is to carefully study every part of a working mechanism, from the key to the hammer, to figure out what is each parts contribution to the whole, and then try to figure out which part fails in its function in the faulty one.

Fortunately You have only one key to worry about (for now ), some that I've seen has had half of the mechanisms in a plastic bag.

As for the tuning wrench, a mom and pop store will be able to order You one, it's doubtful that they'll carry one in their inventory. Unless it's an acoustic piano store of course.

Regards
Sam

[bassteban]

Thanks, Sam- I have looked at the mechanism, but it is one convoluted journey from key to string, to say the least! I did a couple of structural repairs to the case & patched up a bad leg(ironic, I think, given my thread's title ). The *bad* key seems to work quite a bit better just from removing a ton of dust & cobwebs- I'm pretty stoked about making any progress at all.

[poorbassist15]

Good for you...My piano is a whole step out of tune, it's working toward one and a half. I'm so tired of trying to figure why it goes out of tune I want to roll it into a lake.

[bassteban]