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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhen I looked inside I could see that the hammers were elevated as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I checked all the usual issues such as a foreign object, regulation settings, friction, etc. I checked if perhaps the player piano mechanism was the cause by resetting it. I took the whole piano apart and could find nothing out of the ordinary. At these times I often remind myself “Pianos must obey the laws of Newtonian physics.” meaning that even when it seems like there is a ghost in the machine everything must have a logical explanation. A key is a simple lever and if it is depressed something must be applying force to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I contacted several other technicians including the manufacturer to get their thoughts. Everyone was stumped. Finally one of my trusted colleagues Nick Morris who specializes in player pianos mentioned a situation he experienced years before in which movers had screwed the leg bolts in too far and they interfered with the keys. I recalled the client had moved the piano recently. I called the client and asked him if there was any problem with the leg bolts. He said the movers had lost the bolts and it took them a long time to find replacements. This sounded like a strong theory. <\/p>\n\n\n I inspected the interior of the piano again and saw that the leg bolts were indeed protruding inside the piano. Now I had a smoking gun.<\/p>\n\n\n What had happened in this case is that the movers lost the bolts, ordered the wrong bolts, then used high powered tools to force them which stripped the threads. Never hire regular movers to move your piano. Here you can see a comparison of the correct bolt which is the shorter one vs. the incorrect bolt which is the longer one. Notice the movers added five washers to try to make the longer bolt work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the hard part began – removing the bolts. Normally removing leg bolts is easy and can be accomplished with modest tools. I tried with my normal wrench and found that the bolts would not budge. Therefore I aquired a “cheater bar” which was nothing more than a 36″ metal pipe. This tripled my leverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even with this added leverage the work was grueling. Every turn took all of my strength. What should have taken minutes took hours. When I got to the last bolt, which was the most difficult of all, the bolt was so resistant to turn that it tore the screws out of the plate. <\/p>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n