Vintage Keys

After removing the damper control plate I saw the top of an old mouse nest.

I pulled out this ball of  nesting material.

The dampers look pretty beat. 

The hammer tips are heavily grooved.

Lots of signs of chewing. Also note previous emergency repairs.

First the old damper felts were removed and the arms scraped clean with a blade.

New damper felts were glued on.

Next the old hammer tips were removed and the bases scraped clean.

New hammer tips glued on.

All the keys got pulled out. The pedestal felts are worn and need replacing.

The pesestal felts came off with a bit of acetone and a razor blade removed all traces of old adhesive.

New felt was installed. Contact cement was applied to both surfaces. Later I sprayed silicone on the felts.

I replaced the old felt strip under the rear key ends to quiet the action. I applied teflon to the key posts.

Next I removed each tone bar/tine assembly one at a time for inspection prior to replacing the grommets and associated hardware.

A drill with a wire wheel helped remove the heaviest corrosion.

A scotch brite pad helped remove corrosion as well.

Here's a pretty rusty one.

Looking better after a little elbow grease.

This one had white corrosion all over it.

I got almost all of it off with the wire wheel and scotch brite pad.

Some of the tone bars and tines  needed to be realigned.

After putting everything back together, I voiced the tone bar assemblies until the overtones sounded the way I like them.

I'm loosening the pickup assembly here to adjust the distance to the tine end.

I set the pickups hot.

Finally, a good tuning.