Service Your Action Today!
One of the most often performed and most necessary things one can do to a piano is to have the action serviced. The benefits, compared to the cost, result in great value and a noticeable improvement in the performance of your piano.
Action Servicing involves three procedures: Cleaning the action, tightening all screws, and lubricating action centers. The procedure takes about an hour.
Cleaning is the first step. The action is removed from the piano, dust and debris are blown out with compressed air (outside of course), and the action is wiped down with cleaning solution and a microfiber cloth.
Next, we tighten all the screws. In an upright piano action, that’s well over 200 screws! We tighten hammer butt screws, whippen screws, action frame screws, and damper screws. In a grand action there are fewer screws: Action frame screws, Hammer flange screws, and whippen screws.
Finally, we lubricate the moving parts. Most pivot points in piano actions are comprised of pins that ride inside cloth bushings. The lubricant that we use clears out dust and debris, lubricates the pivot point, and protects it from future damage. In an upright piano, we lubricate hammer butt flanges, damper flanges, whippen flanges and jack flanges, as well as balance rail pins. In a grand piano we lubricate hammer flanges, whippen flanges, jack flanges, and balance rail pins.
Action servicing should be done every three to five years, depending on usage and environmental conditions. In addition to making the piano play more efficiently and with less extraneous noise, servicing the action also affords the technician an opportunity to examine each of the many moving parts, and correct minor problems before they become major and costly ones. Make an appointment today!
