Debra Legg Piano Service

03/16/2026

Update on my clever idea written about in the previous post.
It didn't work.
1/4 inch off. The screwdriver assembly was long enough to reach the screw on the belly rail BUT the angle didn't work. Either the screw or the pinblock needed to move 1/4 inch. It was not a straight enough shot in that very confined space.
So...client helped me shift the piano so that the action could be removed. Client helped remove the action due to lack of maneuvering space. Tightened one screw. Checked the others. Hand played some sample dampers w/sostenuto pedal to make sure all was good before struggling to get the action back in.
Whew...

03/08/2026

Being inventive. I was tuning a customer's Petrof grand not long ago. As per my norm, I spent a bit of time before, during, and after tuning to check things over.
Hmmm, the sostenuto is not working correctly in the bass. Why?
Let it be known that this piano is in a small, full room with no space to pull the action.
Oh yeah, why...one loose screw in the sostenuto mounting bracket. Drat, off with the fallboard and out with my absolutely longest screwdriver...which, of course, is too short to reach the screw by insertion from just beneath the stretcher and over the stack.
This week I return with "the answer" tool.
Pic is described in comments.

02/19/2026

Do not do this! Especially because it has to be redone and done correctly. On top of it, always use hot hide glue! It is easily undone. It is the historic standard. This job was further butchered with the use of PVC-E or something similar. A stretchy mess.

12/24/2025

12/24/2025

'Tis the season!

12/21/2025

A side step from working in the shop is working on an oil painting while listening to very special Christmas music. From the 1990s when Ferd Pointer, RPT and his wife, Linda sang with the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay. So many people miss you, Ferd. Such a wonderful CD.

10/29/2025

Today tried my patience. I seem to have encountered the absolutely most stubborn Yamaha key fronts on Earth. And they had to come off...neatly and squarely and accurately. Heat didn't help, a brand new 1/2 inch Japanese chisel would chip off a corner neatly...most of the time...if I was very careful. The guillotine slicer then worked on most of the ones with a corner chipped off. Then it was just hack away on the plastic and back to the guillotine. A couple hours passed. My hands and arms are sore.
Picture shows what one of the stubborn fronts looked like when removal was nigh impossible. These didn't just chip apart, the guillotine just crater-ed them!

10/21/2025

So over the years there have been various attempts to make plastic keytops look, and sometimes feel, like ivory. Pyralin, Ivorine, Neotex, and Ivorite...never knew about...Nixonite! He was into piano keys?

10/20/2025

Cutting it close! Thankfully there were only a couple massive leads installed so close to the top surface of the key.

09/18/2025

In July of 2020 I posted the first two pictures and noted that they represented keys from 2 different sets and had come into the shop 9 months apart.
Today there is another one (the third pic). 5 years and 2 months later!

Who is ROOD?

09/09/2025

Love doing this...so relaxing.