About a year ago, we were looking for a piano. My wife is the player but only plays at home. We weren't in the market for a $10K piano and my wife was against buying something used. The Minneapolis area has a few dealer to pick from and based on the salesman and the dealer commitment, we were OK with one of the ASC brands on the floor but wanted one with a natural tone finish. He had one available in another store and asked to do a direct delivery to the house. The deal included two 1/2 price tunings. Well, the piano was delivered and except for being horribly out of tune and a few sticking keys or damper, it looked nice. The tech showed up about a week later and "fixed" everything and tuned it. I was shocked that I had to pay for the first tuning since I accepted a direct delivery. Well after a couple of months the slow/sticking damper show up again. We called to set up the 6 month tuning and informed him we had more things sticking and the left pedal was very loose. He told us after he finished that if we had any more problems that we would have to find a different tech. I called the dealer when we had more damper problems. A different tech contacted us and came up. He had a little better attitude toward the piano. So now along with the dampers being slow or hanging, we have some double lifts. After two trips that seems to be under control. I am no dummy when it comes to analyzing mechanical operations. So I'm starting to wonder why it is so difficult for techs to set up a piano.
Remember the loose left peddle mentioned above? The real problem was the pivot pin has come half way out so the lever was lopsided. The one tech only reset the "adjustment." Remember the double lifts.........
All along, my wife has said that this piano plays "harder" than the one she played in the store and that some keys sound weird. I do play a little and I started listening and notice some weird sounds from three keys around lower C. The sound turns out to be double strikes, or bouncing hammers and the cause is no escapement. The hammer is about 1/4" from the strings after being played and this has probably been this way since the beginning but the other mechanical problems masked it. All keys are affected. What I did figure out though is if the key is played very hard, the escapement occurs and the hammer drops down and rests on the backcheck. When the key is released, you can see a small rebound which is correct for a grand action. There is no weird sound when when the escapement occurs. I called the tech to let him know and to look at his schedule.
So here is my question to the group. What is the correct way to fix this problem? My tech has already to me what he will do. None of the keys have escapement unless thay receive a very firm stroke.
