Good evening everyone. I have just subscribed after seeing the videos on YouTube. Thanks to you, I realized that the action and the keys need a bit of maintenance... I disassembled everything and separated the keyboard from the action. My questions are:
1 - what can I use to polish the brass parts of the mechanisms? for example: the center pin and the front pin of the key, the pilot that lifts the damper rail... so that they slide better
2 - the replacement of the roller pins, which are now ovalized (the piano is 29 years old)
If anyone has any other clarifications to give me, I would be grateful.
Complimenting the site and the videos, I send my greetings to the whole community.
You can certainly polish the hammers. But you need to see how the felt on the heel of the rests is doing. If a "dent" has been gouged out, it is appropriate to replace them; otherwise, they are brushed with a steel brush to remove the oxide left by the brass hammers.
Replacing the repetitions? It's not that easy and they must be the exact same size. If the repetitions are so ovalized that they need replacing, then perhaps even the repetition lever needs to be replaced. In this case, you replace the entire repetition lever complete with the wippens (meaning also with new repetitions already mounted). The same applies to the keyboard pins: you have to see how the cashmere felts are worn and eventually change them. It is appropriate to use special "hot" brass cauls (which I have been using for a long time now) and good, I say good, high-quality cashmere. Then you see if there is oxide on the pins (but I don't think so, because Kawai uses nickel-plated pins!) Good luck... to you... or to the Technician who will perform the work with expertise
Thank you very much, and many compliments for the videos!!! I disassembled the entire keyboard and the pins are a bit dark; I will polish them as you suggested. The heel felts are a bit worn down, but not excessively; I will limit myself to polishing the brass and adjusting the hammers that are higher or lower. One more thing please... in the Kawai video I saw the workers 'filing' the hammer felts with sandpaper... what is that for? I have string marks on my hammers; is this something I can do, or will I ruin the tone quality?
Shaving the hammers is a task for experts. And then one must tune the hammer action again. It is difficult for a beginner to know how to restore the perfect shape to the hammers, which, attention, must maintain a more pointed shape in the acute notes!
