RE: Stuck Notes

[Bob Schleicher <bobs@hopf.dnai.com>]

At 03:45 PM 7/5/96 PDT, you wrote:
>
>>The B-3 I play at church has developed stuck notes (always on) on both
>>sets of drawbars on the lower manual only. This affects only the first
>>(left hand) drawbar of each set.
>>Any and all ideas on how to proceed with a fix are greatly appreciated!
>
>You almost surely have a stuck or bent key contact under one or more
>of the keys of the lower manual.  Unfortunately, it is pretty hard to get   
>in
>and fix.  First, figure out which key is causing the problem.  Pull out   
>just
>the drawbar that turns on the stuck tone, and play chromatically from the   
>
>bottom of the keyboard up, until you find the key that matches the stuck
>frequency.  Strike the key sharply 8 or 10 times to see if the contact   
>frees
>itself (this is unlikely, but worth a shot).  I recently posted a lengthy   
>tale of
>some fixes I made to key contacts.  It involved removing all the keys   
>from
>the manual and removing the top cover plate from the key contact stacks.   
>   
>
>Reply privately and I will send it to you if you are interested.
>
>Another technique which can work if the contact is not bent, but just   
>caught
>on the wrong side of the buss bar, is to prop up the keyboards enough to
>get to the buss bar access plate on the left side of the keyboard, remove   
>it,
>and pull just the bottom buss bar out (this is the buss bar for the   
>left-hand
>drawbar in each set), then reseat it and hope the contact sprang back in
>place.  It can be tricky to reseat the buss bar, and experienced techs   
>have
>special tricks and ways to hold their tongue to get it back in<g>.   
> However,
>this is a lot less work than disassembling the keyboard and going in from   
>the
>top.  If you decide to try fixing it yourself, I'd recommend trying this   
>first.
>Good luck!  
>
>
All above points are good advice.  Another possible cause is a bussrod that
has a failed spot weld.  The contact wire may raise enough to touch the
contact.  Try turning the bussrod shifter from one extreme to the other.
*CAUTION* do not press any keys while doing this and make sure no presets
are latched. This may get you by for a while.  If this is the case, the
permanent cure is a new rod.  There are three types used, so make sure you
order the correct one. Replacement is best left to a pro.  
Bob S.

Fax:  (510) 530-3228
E-Mail:  bobs@hopf.dnai.com
Shop phone: (510) 530-0112