Hi Gang.  For the old pros, this information will be old hat,
but the folks that rebuild pianos for a hobby might find this
information useful.

If you take the keybed out of an upright piano for *any* reason, or do
major action work of any kind, be sure to mark the exact point where
the hammer hits the strings.  If you don't get it back in the exact
spot where it was, your tone will go "Bye Bye", and it is hard to find
it again.

This caused me no end of grief lately when I pulled the action in my
Foster piano and replaced it with another one.  The striking point was
off and the result was *"Yuck"*.

I had another Foster that had not been tampered with (it helps to have
pianos of the same make around)!  I made six cardboard strips and
punched a hole in the ends.  These holes hang the cardboard on the
lower row of tuning pins.  The cardboard is as wide as the unison.

Make the cardboard long enough to go 1/4" below the dampers, and hang
the cardboard on the lower tuning pins at each of the scale breaks.
The tuning pin holds the top of the cardboard jig, the damper holds the
other end between the damper and string.  Mark the striking point of
the end hammers, and carefully transfer the striking point over to the
card board.  Be accurate here.  Now you have a reference point when the
action is returned to the piano.

I transferred the strike point from one piano to the other piano this
way.  This is extremely important if the piano is to have a good tone.
I will never take an upright piano apart any more without doing this.

Andy Taylor