Piano Tuning | Page 9

the soft pedal is used. The soft pedal in the square piano simply interposes a piece of felt between each hammer and its corresponding string or strings. This felt being much softer than that of the hammers, the tone is greatly subdued.
The mechanical arrangement of the dampers is very different in the square from that in the upright. The dampers are above the strings. Instead of springs to hold them against the strings, they simply rest upon them with their weight. In many old squares some of the dampers fall upon nodal points, causing defective damping or harmonic after-tones.
The stationary parts of the square action are: action frame, to which is secured the balance rail, balance pins and guide pins, hammer rail, flange rail, and damper rail. When the key is struck, the parts that move upward are: the back end of the key, bottom, jack, hammer, back check, damper wire and damper lever. The hammer falls back upon the back check immediately after striking, and remains there until the key is released, when all movable parts fall to rest position.
The action of the jack is the same in all types.
ACTION OF THE GRAND PIANO.
After thoroughly going over the details of the action of the square and upright pianos, there remains very little to describe in the action of the grand.
The grand action partakes of the characteristics of both the upright and the square, and is somewhat more complicated than either.
The bottom and extension are almost identical with those of the upright; the extension, however, is necessarily very short.
The wippen is of different construction, and somewhat more complicated in the grand.
The flange rail in the grand is made also to serve the purpose of regulating rail, as the hammer rail is made to do in the square.
The back check is identical with that of the square.
The dampers are the same in their working principles as those of the square, but are generally different in construction; yet, some squares have the same arrangement of dampers as those shown in the cut of the grand action.
The soft pedal of the grand shifts the entire action to the right so that the hammers strike only two and in some cases only one of the strings.
The student should study the three types of actions from the actions themselves, if possible.
[Illustration: ACTION OF THE GRAND PIANO.]
ACTION OF THE GRAND PIANO.
1. Indicates the felt, cloth or leather, upon which the various parts of the action rest, or fall noiselessly.
2. Key.
3. Bottom; sometimes called Key Rocker.
4. Extension; split at lower end to receive center pin in Bottom.
5. Wippen Support.
6. Jack.
7. Jack Spring.
8. Flange and Regulating Rail.
9. Regulating Screw, Button and Cushion.
10. Escapement Lever.
11. Regulating Screw in Hammer Flange, for Escapement Lever.
12. Check Wire, for Escapement Lever.
13. Screw to regulate fall of Escapement Lever.
14. Lever Flange, screwed to Flange Rail.
15. Hammer Shank.
16. Hammer.
17. Back Check.
18. Damper Lever, leaded.
19. Damper Wire, screwed into upright.
20. Damper Wire Guide, fastened to Sound-Board.
21. Damper Head and Felt.
0. Center Pins. Holes lined with Bushing Cloth.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR REMOVING THE SQUARE AND GRAND ACTIONS.
First, feel or look underneath the keyboard and see if there are screws that go up into the action. In most of the better grade instruments the action is fastened in this way. If the screws have square heads, your tuning hammer will fit them and bring them out; if common screws, a screw-driver will suffice. Look through the opening in the sound board where the hammers strike and see that they are all down before pulling out the action, lest they break off by catching on the under side of the sound board. This is almost sure to happen if actions are out of order.
In most square pianos, the narrow board just below the keys can be removed by being raised straight up, as it simply sets over screw heads in the key frame. When this strip is removed, a wire handle will be found in the middle of the key frame by which to draw out the action. In some cases, and especially in grands, this strip is secured by screws found underneath the piano. In other pianos, the action is held by screws in front of the key frame, which will be revealed by the removal of the front strip, above referred to.
Be especially careful in placing the action back into the piano. As a rule, it is safe to keep the right (long) end of the square action bearing against the right side of entrance, being sure that one end of action does not get ahead, which might cause some of the hammers to strike the props for which the openings are left in the back extremities of action.
While the action is out, study carefully the purpose of every part and its movements, referring to this and the