Hello, this is my first post. I am a pianist as well as an enthusiast of how our beloved instrument works.
I own a Yamaha U3, the tuning and regulation of which I handle personally. Having had the opportunity to have an upright piano on hand, I have managed to learn the basics for its regulation. However, I have never had the chance to remove the action of a grand piano.
At school, we have a Yamaha G5 grand piano. For a few days now, a key has been giving me problems, in the sense that it does not return to its original position but remains slightly depressed.
If it were an upright, I would have checked the pins and the bushings (once it happened on mine that a pin had turned slightly to one side, preventing the key from rising).
As for the grand piano, however, I know how to remove the action, but I do not know precisely if the key can be removed with the same ease as it is from an upright.
It is not necessarily necessary to remove the action to solve your problem.
First, it is necessary to understand what is causing this issue; sometimes it is just a bit of dirt or some oxidation on the pin, or key friction somewhere.
So: first remove the keyboard cover (or fallboard). You can easily slide it off from the side support pins. Then unscrew the wing nuts located under the two extreme sides of the keyboard. This will allow you to remove the side blocks that hold the frame in place. The action is still not free. Lift the frame's travel limiter rod in front of you. Now you can slide out the action. CAUTION NOW. Do not touch the keys while sliding it out because the hammers rise, and passing over the front bar they could break!!!!!!! In this case, that hammer which does not fall COULD BREAK. So be careful. If it doesn't pass through, tilt the part of the frame closest to you upwards, so as to allow the problematic hammer to pass.
Now you can verify what happened. First check the key and see if, on its own, it is free to oscillate. If so, the obstacle is in other parts of the action. Check all the way down to the hammer, which must move up and down freely when moved by you. You will find the obstacle.
Reinsert the action using the reverse of the described procedure.
Hello Pianoexpert, and thank you for the answer. I had done up to where you described, I remember seeing it being done by the tuner. It's just that I only pulled it out a little bit and then put it back in for fear of making a mess.
Are you saying I should really pull it all the way out and lay it on a table?
But to extract the key and remove it, is it necessary to disassemble the frame that supports the action, or can it be extracted without having to disassemble it?
Yes, it is necessary. But perhaps you can understand without separating the "castelletto" (key lever frame) from the action and the keyboard. It is possible that the problem lies in the upper part. If the gasket of the front key pin is involved, a specific parallel-jaw plier must be used, which allows widening the slot (or mortise) without dismantling anything.
I checked. the problem seems to be at the junction of the hammer shank, where the pin is: there is friction preventing the hammer from moving freely. What should I do, lubricate it with that Teflon lubricant I saw in one of the videos?
I wouldn't want to sound presumptuous, but is it that complex to replace it? Do you have to change the entire hitch pin (forcola) or just replace the pin by pushing it out with a punch and putting a new one in?
