Good morning everyone,
lately I have come across two pianos, one grand (Petrof) and one upright (Ferdinand Manthey), which have been "abandoned" in a house by the owners for about ten years.
Not knowing music, they kept these pianos in the house without ever playing them or performing even minimal maintenance.
The problems with the pianos are as follows.
Regarding the upright:
- Some keys remain down, as if they were getting stuck somewhere, I imagine due to friction issues. Especially if I try to repeat notes quickly, it reaches a certain point where these keys lock up completely. When they lock, I notice that the hammers remain forward, detached from the repetition lever and, looking closer, it is easy to see that the escapement finger does not return completely under the cap, but remains practically resting against the escapement rail, because the cap, indeed, rests on top of it. I thought it might be the leather of the cap being worn, preventing the finger from sliding and returning to the correct position, but it seems to be in good condition, even though there do seem to be some depressions in the leather in certain spots. Could it instead be a problem related to the felt of the keybed or some other sliding issue?
- Besides this, I notice that the keys, after being pressed, return slowly, or rather: during the return phase, the key, instead of stopping in its natural position, tends to bounce, as if the hammer were bouncing somewhere and taking the key with it. In this way, it is also extremely difficult to play at speed or with repeated notes because the key return is too slow and "soft"/light.
Regarding the grand piano, however, the problems are of a slightly different nature, but I believe they may have a common origin:
- Some keys remain stuck even before reaching the end of their stroke when pressed.
- The keyboard seems excessively heavy to me. I didn't have anything with me to measure the weight with which the key descends but, from experience, I am sure it required far too much strength to be able to play. Trying to play a few bars from the first movement of Beethoven's Pathétique (the part where the left hand has fast repeated octaves), in fact, I noticed that my hand became very tired and that it was almost impossible to maintain the right speed and properly control the keys.
I know such an explanation is reductive, especially in the absence of the instrument or even just photos/videos, but I would like to understand if any of you can, in a first analysis, give me an idea of what the mechanical problems might be and what the possible solutions are. What interests me most at the moment is the upright, as it would be a purchase for my sister-in-law.
Thank you in advance for your attention and support.
Have a good day,
Gioele
