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My poor A-100 tipped off the furniture dolly and took a fall on it's face when moving it to my house after purchase. Don't ask how it happened. But it did. Minor cosmetic damage to the lower front wood rails (or whatever they are called) slightly below the lower manual. But that put something out of plumb and now many of the lower manual keys stick in the halfway down position and don't spring freely. I plan on removing upper and lower manuals and tilting up in the cabinet and then removing the front metal rail that hides the up and down felts. What typically could be bent in this kind of situation and what does it take to unbend and/or relieve pressure? Thanks.
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Hard to tell from the picture but does the metal front rail seem to be bowed in slightly and pressing against the fronts of the sticking keys? If so, you can probably just remove the rail and gently reshape it with your hands. Will the keys still move up and down with an assist from a finger tip?Tom in Tulsa
Fooling with: 1969 E100, 1955 M3, 1963 M100, Leslie 720Comment
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Ahh... Check in the back of the organ. Inertia from the fall may have caused some hardware to shift, and it might be pressing against the backs of the keys where they attach to the manual chassis.Tom in Tulsa
Fooling with: 1969 E100, 1955 M3, 1963 M100, Leslie 720Comment
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Sometimes, if the organ falls over with its top manual not properly bolted down, the top manual will shift slightly towards the "driver's seat" which will cause what you're describing. Loosen the two long screws that hold the top manual in place, push it back a couple of millimeters, and see if that fixes the problem. My bet is it does.Current organs: AV, M-3, A-100
Current Leslies: 22H, 122, 770Comment
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Or you could just correct the problem by dropping it on its back this time. :-)
Oh... wait...
Probably oughta take loose the mounting bolts and slide it carefully aft, and then retighten. That'd be far more responsible.
My guess isn't the rail in front, but the front rail of the upper keyboard pushing down onto the lower key midpoint area.
I've had this happen during assembly before. It was a simple misalignment.Comment
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Thanks for the tips. I've loosed/removed all the manual bolts except for the two long ones that hold the upper manual in place (one of them behind the reverb box). Will do that later today and see if it provides enough wiggle room to take the pressure off those lower manual keys.Comment
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If loosening the bolts did not make those keys snap back, the location of the keyboard is not the problem...I personally cannot see this as the cause, as I would think that more than one key would be sticking if there was that much damage, and besides, the front rail is attached to the keyboard so moving the keyboard will have no effect.
Since you have the keyboards loose, lift the upper...you will need to take out those 2 big black screws and take the top off. Then you can tilt the keyboard up and block it so you can look around. Then you can see if anything is hitting the top of the keys in question.
Can you wiggle those keys back and forth at all? Compare the amount of wiggle of the sticky one to keys on either side. I think that is may be possible that the key comb may have gotten bent and is preventing free movement. With the upper keyboard up, you can reach back and loosen the screw that holds the key and take it out.
Another possibility is that the front felt got ripped or damaged and a piece of it or something else is wedged between the key and the front rail.
Bob
In theory, there is no difference between theory and reality.
In reality, there is.
'54 C-2 & Pair of 122 Leslies
H-324/Series 10 TC
'35 Model A (Serial# 41) with a 21H
Look at some of my rescues:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/58226398@N03/albumsComment
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Those yellow circles were just arbitrarily drawn in to show a few keys (I think I had pulled most of the keys up with my fingers at that point). Probably 80 to 90 percent of the keys are sticking/binding on the lower manual. I do know that in the back of the keys of the upper manual I can see a quarter inch of the metal part of the key assembly (going to the comb). But on the lower manual there is no such gap and I cannot see the comb at all. I will be loosening the remaining two bolts today and will let you all know progress. -
That makes more sense now. It was hard to come up with a reason for only one or 2 keys to start binding.
Lifting the upper will certainly eliminate or verify the upper front rail as a cause.
I really cannot visualize any other thing causing this issue besides the keycombs or something rubbing on the front of the key, around the felt area. I suppose a hard enough hit could cause the angle part that the front rail is attached to to bend inward, and leave the front rail intact.
The picture does not show this, however.
I am really curious what you find!
Bob
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Success! When l loosened the two long upper manual bolts from under the tone wheel shelf the organ sighed and said "Oh, thank you!" like a chiropractic patient that's been jacked up with a bad back for a month. Didn't even have to take the bolts out. Just loosened them. All keys free and clear now and acting nomal. I feel so much better now. Next step is getting a new run switch. Also, I want to fuse this thing so it isn't a fire hazard. I saw a four-fuse plate that Trek II sells. Is that that best option? Anything else I should look to do? Change out the large electrolytic can caps?Comment
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Trek II fuse only protects the preamp - However it is cheap protection for the Power Transformer. I normally drill a hole in the AO 39 power amp and install a bayonet fuse on the line input.
JimComment
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I've used this power entry module on several A1xx organs. Provides an IEC connection and has provisions for a fuse. Will need to slightly enlarge the hole for the power connector on the AO-39.
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail...52B4bJzg%3D%3DComment
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