1928 Aldrich Grand
Here's your piano set up in my living room.
Original bass hammers.
Original tenor / treble hammers.
New sample bass hammer installed.
New sample tenor hammer installed.
Weighing off the action to determine the amount of weight the key requires to move down a defined amount and the amount of weight the key can lift from that point back up to starting point. This information is fed into a program that produces the best hammer and key lead weight for each key. The results are a balanced key board that feels "correct" whether in the low bass or high treble. Currently the piano has an overall heavy touch.
Weighing the front of key weight tells me how much lead is being used to counter-balance the hammers (think teeter-totter). Too much lead can make the keys feel sluggish, too little makes them less controllable under the pianist's fingers. These factory-leaded keys fall right in the middle of the range. This will allow me to have slightly heavier hammers which can improve tone.
Starting from the left the G, A, B & G an octave above all have chipped ivory. These will be replaced and the set bleached to match.
The ebony sharps will be stripped and refinished.
Taking measurements of the 10 single-string unisons in the bass. They will be replaced with exact duplicates from
Arledge Bass Strings - Nashville, TN
Arledge Bass Strings - Nashville, TN
This is the key frame, upon which the keys and action reside. It's not happy, as you will see.
The piano endured an insect infestation sometime in the past. Probably moths, they love felt and found plenty to munch. Interestingly, the hammers show no damage,
they just stayed under the keys.
they just stayed under the keys.
They snacked on the key back rail cloth as well. Yummm, tasty!
Cleaned, polished and felt punchings / cloth replaced.
New Hammers Arrived!
The hammers now have to be prepped before installation, boring for the shank, narrowing for clearance and weight control.
Ten new bass strings arrived.
Presto Chango - you've got bass tone again!
