[HAM] Fooling With B-3 Keys, Tips

[OF]

As you know, I've been going through a beat-up 1968 B-3 I bought recently, 
getting it up to snuff. The thing *sounds* killer, and I just love the 
action on it. Light but tight. A couple of gallons of Howard's 
Restere-A-Finish didn't hurt either. In fact, I think I'm daring to take 
this box to Tacoma for Dr. Lonnie to play on, instead of the same old La Bamba.

Anyway, a little tech stuff here....this won't be news to experienced organ 
fixers....I took the strips off the front of the manuals so as to fix a few 
glitches and really clean the keys all the way back. One key was sitting a 
little low and light so I bent the spring steel at the back of the key to 
bring up its tension.

The other problem key, an 'A,' would stick down sometimes. Great as long as 
one was playing in 'A,' 'D,' or 'F.' I thought I had it fixed the first 
time when I found a tiny burr on the plastic in the hollow part that fits 
over the keycomb. I figured it was rubbing and catching, so I buffed it 
off. Today, when I went to put the newly re-felted strips back on, I found 
this damn key sticking again. As some of you may know, there are two screws 
underneath each key that hold it to its metal channel. Turns out there's a 
small amount of play, via slots, so the key can be moved slightly back or 
forward. (I knew this, but never thougt why that might be.) So I marked the 
side of the key where it lined up with the channel, loosened the screws, 
and pulled the plastic part back about a gnat's hair, then tightened. 
Perfect, no sticking. These organs are amazing in their attention to detail 
in design.

Anybody else have trouble getting the little metal pegs to line up with the 
holes in the back of the key channel, for tightening? You really need a 
helper to pick up the key from the other side while you're behind the organ 
ready to tighten the screw. I push in one drawbar right over the key to 
help me find the right screw. I found that if I stick a 1/2" piece of board 
under the front of the key, it tilts it at just the right angle so that the 
back of the key can be pressed easily down to snap right in to the pegs.

We won't talk today about all the smoke that fell out of my 31H after I 
recapped it.