Some days ago one of my keys went limp. I took the courage to remove and inspect the element, and the problem was clear. The little noose holding the long spring in the middle is broken, see image. I suppose I can get that repaired easily but am a bit worried the other 87 will also be worn and prone to giving up any time now. Anybody got experience with this kind of thing ? Damn, only two weeks ago I had to glue an ivory back on the key, and in the process managed to break a hammer shank which I then had to glue also. All is holding well and now this. No fun...
Chris, sorry to hear about this, and right after those recordings. Surprised it didn't happen in the time you were making them. Hopefully you can find a good repairman where you live. Not sure your tuner would be able to help you? Not living in Holland, I can't hardly recommend any piano techs to you. By the look of your picture, seems like you could just retie the noose, but, that's just me giving advice. Probably will want a second opinion before making any changes. Sounds like a bummer, sorry.
My tuner says I can put in a new noose myself if I have the material. He'll show me the trick on friday
I had a problem with worn-out and breaking bridle straps on my (former) upright piano. My excellent technician said that with cloth parts, when one wears out, the others are not far behind. Even so, given limited finances, I chose to repair only the broken ones. Then six months later I repaired the ones that had broken in the interim. Then a year later I gave away the piano (and yes I did warn the recipients about the issue and gave them my technician's phone number).
