My Baby-doctor makes house calls

It is always recommended that a piano be tuned after it is moved.  Today was the big day.  My piano technician has tuned my baby twice when it was in foster care.  The first time he tuned it, he also did a thorough diagnostic on it and reported that there was a lot of restoration that "could" be done.  I opted at the time for minimal repair and tuning - to keep the baby working.

When Mark arrived today, I reported that my middle-C-sharp black key wasn't playing consistently, so he worked on that first.  I was totally fascinated to watch his process.  After sliding off the music stand, he removed the key cover and then took the front plate off that usually stands in front of the keys.  Once all that was off, he slid the entire bank of keys out and balanced it on his lap while he worked on it.

He then pulled all the hammers up so he could work on what was under them:

As it turns out, there is a little brass plate for each key, and the one for the middle-C-sharp was cracked.  That was causing the hammer to wobble from side to side, and thus sometimes it wouldn't strike the string squarely - hence, no sound sometimes.  

After discussing the options, we decided to "rob Peter to pay Paul" and swapped out this little part from the key at the far right end of the keyboard because he didn't have a replacement with him.  In the photo above, you will see that the assembly has been taken out across the bottom where there is a blue square.  (Sorry - I don't know all the technical part names, but you probably don't either, so I'm hoping it doesn't matter to you!)  That missing assembly is for the last key at the right.  Technician Mark then replaced this with the cracked part from the center.  The part that is actually cracked is just the tiny brass part that has the 2 screws in it at the far right in the photo above.  The wooden parts are all fine, as of now.

After he got that one replaced, he wiggled them all... and found that in fact, more than 30 of them are "loose" to some extent, meaning that their little parts have either already cracked or are on the verge.  I'm lucky that the piano works as well as it does considering this factor.  He said he's got maybe 5 of these parts at his shop, and he isn't sure he can get them anymore.  He is going to do some research and let me know if the parts are still available.  If so, he recommends that I have them all replaced at once because it is only a matter of time before the wobbly ones break totally, and the rest are destined for the same fate eventually.  It is simply a matter of aging and wear/tear.  

This is a situation much like having an old car.  There comes a point at which it is cheaper to buy a new one than to keep replacing old parts - especially if those parts are becoming obsolete.  However, when there is sentimental value attached to the piano, it's just not the same to buy a new one.  My hope is that if the parts are no longer available, there are old Chickerings out there which can be parts-robbed.  As I explained to Mark, I am not a concert pianist, and I am not a "hard" player.  As long as I can "gently" play my tunes, I will be happy.  

So, Mark and I chose not to do any tuning today.  Once he finds out about these parts, we will decide how to proceed.  The piano sounds just fine to a non-tuner's ear, and even he said it doesn't sound bad.  My middle-C-sharp is working again, so for now I'm satisfied.  

Excuse me now, I'm going to go play....