Bluthner Grand

[the pianoman]

I just visited a new customer who has a Bluthner Grand and I was not able to remove the action. It seems like the hammers are all sitting too high...like maybe they are sitting on TOP of the jack. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Barrie Heaton]

I just visited a new customer who has a Bluthner Grand and I was not able to remove the action. It seems like the hammers are all sitting too high...like maybe they are sitting on TOP of the jack. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like it need new action stand they creep up and bend, Causing the stack to move up to the plank it is quite common on older Bluthners done quite a lot in my time did one last year on a Model 6

The other thing you need to look for is the stop screw in the Bass as the stack has moved up that screw will be embedded into the plank if you turn it down the action should come out with a bit of effort watch the heads

Y0ou will find that once you put the new stands on you will need to do a full regulate from scratch a lot depend on how much other tuners have fiddled with the regulation in the past you are looking at 10 to 16 hours



Barrie

[the pianoman]

Thank you Barrie for your quick response. If I pull out the action just a bit then will I have access to the stop screw or will I see it from the top through the strings?

[Barrie Heaton]

Thank you Barrie for your quick response. If I pull out the action just a bit then will I have access to the stop screw or will I see it from the top through the strings?

You will need a pair of thin pliers or Mole grips, if you look above the hammers flanges you will see it it’s a big screw coming from the hammer rail. But al look at the shift pedal as well, if the stop screw has been turned down beforehand and the piano has been on its side then the shift pedal action pusher can get under the keybead lifting it up.

Barrie

[the pianoman]

Thank you Barrie. You are a wealth of information. One final question for you.
The piano is 2 hours away and I will not be able to get to it until Tuesday. It has an old style action. How do you go about replacing some hammer springs?

[Barrie Heaton]

Thank you Barrie. You are a wealth of information. One final question for you.
The piano is 2 hours away and I will not be able to get to it until Tuesday. It has an old style action. How do you go about replacing some hammer springs?

Do you mean the patient action if so then it is unlikely to be the action standard that are the problem.

The patent action has 2 springs the pigs tale one, and the prolong spring never seen one broke on a Bluthner… do you have the regulation specs . Also when doing lost motion the hammers need to be on the rest and you need to disengage the prolong spring (the one that hold the prolong down L shaped one)

Barrie

[the pianoman]

The pigs tail ones. If I remember correctly Bluthner pianos don't have a lot of working space to get my hand in.
Thanks.

[joe]

Should this thread not be in the Tuner/Retailer section,strange username for one you knows so little,this is basic everday work,are you charging client ?.

[Barrie Heaton]

Should this thread not be in the Tuner/Retailer section,strange username for one you knows so little,this is basic everday work,are you charging client ?.

Agreed joe it shod be in the T/T section However. as to basic stuff there are long established tuners out there who seldom work on patient actions

the pianoman PM vernon to add you to the T/T section you will have to give some background to him


Barrie

[the pianoman]

I am a fairly new tuner and although I've seen a patient action before I've never actually worked on one. This piano belongs to my friend and I am NOT charging him. I just wanted the opportunity and experience of working on this type of action. Thank you for your answers Barrie, and everybody has to start somewhere before they can become great like you Joe.

[joe]

Competent springs to mind not GREAT,why use the username "the pianoman" if you are still learning?,no offence intended just a bit strange I would associate a person calling themselves that to be an expert ?

[joe]

Strange how a new customer,strangely becomes a friend ?.

[Gill the Piano]

If you're the only person people know of in the village/town who knows even a little bit about pianos, you inevitably end up being called The Piano something or other - that's how I ended up with my soubriquet, anyway...

[Barrie Heaton]

I am a fairly new tuner and although I've seen a patient action before I've never actually worked on one. This piano belongs to my friend and I am NOT charging him. I just wanted the opportunity and experience of working on this type of action. Thank you for your answers Barrie, and everybody has to start somewhere before they can become great like you Joe.

I would recommend becoming a student member of the PTA and IMIT you then can attend their classes, Barry Caradine (PTA) put on very good class on Bluthner action The ABPT are at Bluthners this Saturday but we are not running any classes on Bluthner patent actions

Barrie

[joseph]

Strange how a new customer,strangely becomes a friend ?.

Hi Joe, perhaps he was a friend first and then became a new customer, and perhaps the pianoman referred to him as a new customer first because if he had said 'friend' then everyone would have said 'don't go messing around in other people's pianos'. Customer, in the first post, at least makes it seem like the pianoman is serious about his profession.

I would say he's called himself the pianoman because he's on a piano forum, he's tuning pianos and he's quite enthusiastic about the whole thing. I wouldn't really read too much into it!

Bluthner patents can be excellent actions to play on, and despite what many say, I've found the repetition to be fine on them. Of course, they can go out of regulation and be tampered with and then they don't play so well. I think the only problem with Bluthner patent actions is that they are just that bit different from standard actions, so a pianist practising on a Bluthner patent piano, then going to give a concert on a Steinway that you need fingers like Popeye for, can be a bit of a problem.

*** not that Steinways play with heavy actions, insert the name of any piano you like where it says Steinway, just meaning any town hall piano that hasn't been set up well

[joe]

A "Customer" is a person who pays for a service,a friend doing a repair for nothing 2 hours drive away is not a customer.

[athomik]

A customer is anyone who pays me to see them and fix their piano.I've done anything from Land's End to John o'Groats - 3 days for 1 job, sometimes. Furthest away was Cannes, but that was just a 1 day job, thanks to EasyJet.

[pianotechman]

I was enjoying reading the comments about the Bluthner patent action,[ I trained/ worked for the company 1976-86] before this topic got rather 'side tracked'!!