Well, after my first setback, I took a few days to regroup. I decided to let the dampers wait for a while, and take a look at the action. So, I headed to the thrift store for a work table. I found a nice one for a bargain price, and brought it home.


I removed the key-bed/action, and set it on my table. I took a couple pictures of it like that, but they seem to have disappeared from my camera.
So, first thing, figure out how to get the keys out, for leveling. Hah! Easier said than done. Those keys were locked in there by the hammer rail, and of the 85 keys, I was able to wrangle only about 25 out of the middle section, where there was enough wiggle room to get the first key out, and then contort the next and the next, until I had a set removed.

Boy, was that keybed filthy. There was a hundred fifty years of dust and lint under the keys. The dust was as thick as the felt punchings that sit at the bottom of the key front rail. Nasty!

I took the soft brush to it, and cleaned it all out.

Then, one by one, I removed the felt and paper front rail punchings and ccarefully set them aside in order, white keys in front, black keys in back. Except for being dirty, the felts are in quite good condition.

But now I was stymied. I could not pry any more of the keys out of the action. Now I had to examine the action more closely, to see what needed to be removed.

This is such an elegant little machine. It has the barest minimum of moving parts, unlike modern machines that may have thirty to seventy pieces for each action. There is not much that is liable to regulation. There is a check screw, and there is a pair of adjusting screws for the jack flange, to move it up or down. But that is it!

Again, I am amazed at how well made this is. It is entirely of wood, except for the screws and the cast iron frame. But it is absolutely solid, and the felt parts, the bumpers and so on, are in great condition. The buckskin parts are a little rough, but I can polish them down. I am wondering how many parts I am really going to have to replace in the action. Not a lot.