How do i remove a piano keyboard?

qbaser · Post by **qbaser** » 09 Nov 2005, 02:49

I need to remove the keyboard from a baby grand and replace it with a modern digital stage piano (I just intend to slide this into place once the original keyboard is out).

Can anyone tell me an instruction on how the removal is achieved or point me to a resource on the web that will guide me? I know can be done because i have seen this setup in many other piano bars.

Many thanks

Al

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 09 Nov 2005, 21:54

Disgraceful...! :
At the ends of the keyboard, underneath, there will either be a big thumbscrew that looks like Mickey Mouse, or a huuuuuuuuge screw. Undo whatever you find. The fall (lid) should lift up and then out by the back of the keys; there's a little brass bracket which guides it into place which should show you how to lift it out. Now, having removed the fall and the endblocks, you should be left with a rail running in front of the keys. It may be screwed in from underneath or may just lift out. The action will then slide towards you but DON'T PRESS ANY KEYS DOWN or you'll rip hammer heads off as it passes beneath the wrest plank.Grip the edges of the action to pull it.
Or it's a lot easier to learn to play a PROPER piano...

qbaser · Post by **qbaser** » 10 Nov 2005, 17:59

Thanks for that info, I should manage to replace it from that instruction.

I play piano just fine but needs must otherwise the pianobar owner has a tuning bill every other week and this is after all 2005. For the money, the quality and technology of a good digital piano by far exceeds that of an acoustic (for the money).

Al

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 10 Nov 2005, 18:30

Ah, but for musicality...!

qbaser · Post by **qbaser** » 11 Nov 2005, 12:35

Maybe you haven't heard the latest digital pianos then?

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 11 Nov 2005, 18:58

I have - but I don't think the people who invented them have...

Geminoz · Post by **Geminoz** » 12 Nov 2005, 12:23

If you are going to play a digital piano why not just play a digital and let people see what you are playing....why do you have to corrupt" the integrity of a "PROPER" piano?

If you are determined do that I hope you remove the proper piano makers' name from the piano.
If the pianobar owner wants a piano to look authentic he/she should be prepared to pay for tuning the proper piano.
Just another example of things not being what they seem these days.

qbaser · Post by **qbaser** » 12 Nov 2005, 13:11

Ladies and gentlemen...you're getting way too precious and silly about things now.

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 12 Nov 2005, 16:50

To get the action out, you have to take the fall (keyboard lid) out, so qbaser won't have Mr Yamaha (or whomever) chasing for false representation! Unless it's splurged on the side of the piano of course...

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 12 Nov 2005, 16:52

Forgot to say, qbaser, the mickey mouse screws under the endblocks are occasionally captive, so don't waste the rest of your life trying to get them out completely!

Geminoz · Post by **Geminoz** » 13 Nov 2005, 12:42

uh oh I'm in the corner again

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 13 Nov 2005, 18:47

Don't worry, Gem; you get used to it here in the naughty corner after a while, and nobody notices what you get up to here...

Geminoz · Post by **Geminoz** » 14 Nov 2005, 12:40

In that case maybe I'll just stay there and keep my opinons to myself.

andyaeola · Post by **andyaeola** » 14 Nov 2005, 13:09

What happens to the pedals/lyre? Gone too presumably? Digital pedals are rubbish.
What else needs to be removed to enable a digital to go where no digital has gone before?
It would be interesting to see a photo of the 'finished result'

Andy

qbaser · Post by **qbaser** » 14 Nov 2005, 16:26

Pedals remain inplace. The digital pedal will be at the side of the others and is more than up to the job. You guys are getting way too excitable about this...it's a pianobar where drum machine and keyboard will sit on top, not a concert hall with Bach knocking out classical pieces!

9 out of 10 pianobars are set up like this so don't beat yourselves up - it has to be done this way for a variety of reasons that I can't be bothered to explain.

Also, it's my last post on the thread, dont have the time to waste any more.

Good night

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 14 Nov 2005, 17:43

Coo, must be nice to be important and needed!

PianoFifty · Post by **PianoFifty** » 14 Nov 2005, 21:50

Shame, really, 'cos I was looking forward to finding out more about this project - I was thinking along these lines for the (so far unsold) Steinbechendorfer, ie rip the guts out of it and replace them with Mickey & the Microchips!

But I have some sympathy for the idea - might give a new lease of life to a clapped out old grand that's not worthy of a traditional restoration job. And if a Yammaha action were replaced with a Yamaha digital keyboard, I can't really see the harm - just echoes what Yamaha seem to be doing more and more of these days themselves (Grantouch etc).

Also I wouldn't agree that all digital pedals are rubbish - I've had a big chunky Yamaha fp something or other for nearly 20 years and it has never let me down - used it in pubs clubs and generally bashed the bejeesus out of it.

Come back, Mr Qbaser, I'd like to hear a bit more about this - how do you provide amplification abd sound, and who would do the cabinetwork?

Drats, wish I hadn't spent all that money on a new GC1 now.....

andyaeola · Post by **andyaeola** » 15 Nov 2005, 10:23

Oops, inadvertantly touched a nerve, sorry. But I've never seen a digital keyboard inserted into a piano and would love to see a photo. (I've seen pianos with electronic boxes attached, and a piano with original keyboard but digital recording equipment connected inside).
As to digital pedals, OK, all may not be rubbish, but I've never played a digital with a satisfactory pedalling action. Do the latest models allow for pedalling gradations? - that few mm or so on an acoustic where the dampers are neither solidly on nor totally off?

A