Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum Respect for piano techs.

I'm certainly no tech but the other day, when I was investigating the source of a minor squeak I discovered that my Hailun was completely missing a small (3 cm diameter) hard leather pad that was supposed to be on the bottom of the wooden damper activation lever underneath the key bed where the damper rod pushes up on. (Notice my skillful non-mastery of piano technician jargon? ).

Also, on the other side of the wooden lever (as well as the sostenuto lever) below the key bed there were two thick felt pads that had completely come loose and were just resting on top of the levers.

Today I purchased a scrap piece of suitable leather from the local leather shop (the shop is literally called "A Guy in a Store That Fixes Leather" ), cut out the proper size circle, glued two of them together to get the proper thickness and glued it to the proper spot at the end of the lever.

I also fixed the two felt pads back on with a small amount of contact cement.
I used this since my Reblitz piano maintenance book claimed that it would be suitable for felt.

I had removed the damper activation lever underneath the piano so I could have proper access to it and be able to clean the surface where I would be gluing the items.

That little bugger was a bit trickier than I expected to get everything aligned back up properly and reassembled but it was very satisfying to have everything come together nicely afterwards.
Now I know that this is nothing for you pros but I love to be able to do little things like this on my own and it gives me added knowledge on a working part of my piano that I was completely oblivious to until I took it apart.
(I had installed my Dampp-Chaser system on my own as well but since that came with very detailed instructions it wasn't quite the same).

I had chatted a bit with my piano tech via email just to make sure that I wasn't using any adhesive that he would berate me for, but I figured since it wasn't really a critical part of any mechanism that I shouldn't have any problem.

What I think is strange is that the leather pad was completely missing (the other two were there) and that the two thick felt pads that cushion the levers from hitting the bottom of the piano were both completely loose and were just resting on top of the levers.

I spoke with another Hailun grand owner here and he says his corresponding pieces are perfectly fine.

My theory is that the glue on these non-critical parts (the leather pad and the two felt pads) had possibly let go because this piano, and two smaller Hailuns in the same shipment, had been exposed to some severe cold since they were apparently shipped across Canada (from Vancouver to Toronto) in an unheated truck in the middle of January a few years ago.

These three pianos all showed some very tiny long cracks in the clear finish on the inside of the rim where the gorgeous birds-eye maple is. (I've since heard these referred to as "cold cracks"). They were only in the clear coat and were very hard to notice, in fact I was the one who had noticed them in the pianos while they sat on the showroom floor and had pointed them out to the owner, who was as surprised as I was.

My particular piano had been sent out to a furniture refinisher where they hand sanded down the inner rim and refinished it (it is slightly less glossy) before I took delivery.
I was wondering if this cold exposure had something to do with the felt and leather pads letting go?

I'd like anyone's opinion on whether this sounds like a reasonable explanation, or if this is probably just a coincidence.

Does anyone think that I should be on the lookout for any other issues in the future that may show up due to the piano being exposed to this type of cold for who knows how many days?

More than likely the missing leather was a manufacturing defect. They happen. You are not likely need to do this again.

I thought that might be a possibility as well but once I had the lever off there did appear to be a small faint outline where it seemed like a pad was attached before and a very very thin layer of what was probably glue.
But it seems surprising to me that if it were an oversight during construction that it could make it through the Quality Control (even though it is Chinese) as well as the setup at the dealer.

Hi Sparky,

You'd be amazed at what we see that makes it through quality control even with the best pianos built in the world. It could easily be that the part was glued on but, with very little glue and just fell off. I've run into that now and again with different pianos when I found it laying on the floor or inside of a vertical. Hard to tell really.

With how you do your homework before hand, I'll bet it looks just as good as if a pro did it himself...

Well, if not, you're certainly on your way.

No, you should enjoy your piano and let your tuner look for problems. It is hard to enjoy something with a pessimistic attitude.

Come on Jeff, some piano owners have reasonable discerning and communication skills. After all, for most of them playing and enjoying the piano means that it is running in tip top shape. I know many techs that would ignore a squeak or not even operatate/check the sustain pedal for example in the course of a regular tuning.

You misunderstand me. I only mean for Sparky to enjoy his piano and not look for problems to irritate him and decrease his enjoyment. I do not mean that he cannot or should not take care of problems (within his capabilities) that present themselves. I mean that he should not look for problems that do not present themselves, which is the question I replied to. That is what he pays his tuner for.

I do NOT have "pessimistic attitude", nor am I "irritated" OR "looking for problems"!
How in the heck could anybody get that?

Excuse me all to heck for asking those of you much more knowledgeable than I a simple question about whether exposure to extreme cold for an extended period would be detrimental to anything on a piano.

Considering the significant cosmetic work that had to be performed on the cracked finish due to the cold exposure I hardly think my question is out of line or is needlessly pessimistic.

My previous tuner had missed this completely even though he had adjusted the free play in the damper to compensate for what I now know was the missing pad, yet I now get berated for not letting my tuner take care of stuff like this?

I also choose not to pay a car mechanic to do something simple like change a burnt out bulb or a fuse in my car, but I certainly wouldn't expect to be criticized by a mechanic on an automotive forum for my doing so.

Sparky:

You also have completely misunderstood my intent.

Thanks Jerry, that's what I suspected but it's good to have that confirmed by a pro.