Technical LibraryACTION VIII: Common Quill Problems Entire Contents Copyright © 2010 CBH |
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Q U I L L
P R O B L E M S
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OBSERVATION | CAUSE | CORRECTIVE ACTION |
---|---|---|---|
Quill missing. | Quill broke in the past and was not replaced. | Replace quill. | |
Quill has slid forward and out in loose tongue mortise. | Pad or swell mortise and replace quill. | ||
Quills are odd and inconsistent lengths. | Quills have never been cut correctly to ghost. | Set registers and cut quills to ghost. | |
There have been many careless quill replacements since the instrument was last voiced. | Replace quills and revoice instrument. | ||
Quill too short to reach string in ON position. | Jack has been swapped. | Return jack to correct register slot. | |
Tongue is not returning correctly. | Diagnoze and rectify tongue problem. | ||
Quill has slid back in loose tongue mortise. | Pad mortise or replace quill. | ||
Quill not cut to correct length. | Advance or replace quill. | ||
Quill broken off. | Remove stub of dead quill and replace with fresh quill. | ||
All quills appear too short to reach strings in ON position. | There is foreign matter preventing the register from turning fully ON. | Remove foreign matter from register ON end. | |
There is insufficient tension to keep the register ON. | Adjust tension of stoplever fulcrum screw, or spine register cleat. | ||
Stringband has shifted and entire register requires adjustment. | Adjust ON position of register. | ||
Quill too long to clear string in OFF position. | Jack has been swapped. | Return jack to correct register slot. | |
Individual replacement quill was not correctly cut to length. | Cut offending quill to correct length. | ||
All quills appear too long to clear string in OFF position. | There is foreign matter preventing the register from turning fully OFF. | Remove foreign matter from register OFF end. | |
Stringband has shifted and entire register requires adjustment. | Adjust OFF position of register. | ||
Quill drags tongue forward when played. | Tongue is not properly seated in jack. | Reseat tongue. | |
Tongue spring is deformed and pressing below axle. | Replace spring. | ||
Note is weak. | Quill is too short and not properly engaging string. | Advance quill or replace quill and then cut to correct length. | |
Quill is about to fail. | Replace quill. | ||
Note is unmusically raucous and loud. | Quill has been replaced without voicing. | Voice quill to match its neighbours. | |
Quills frequently breaking. | Quills made from poor quality plastic, or incorrectly punched. | Replace quills and revoice instrument. | |
Plastic is fatiguing with age. | |||
Original voicing technique did not offer longevity. | |||
Quill doesn’t return below string. | Jack has been swapped. | Return jack to correct register slot. | |
Jack is too tight in register. | Ease register slot. | ||
Jack is too tall. | Reduce height of jack. | ||
Individual replacement quill was not correctly cut to length. | Cut offending quill to correct length. | ||
Tongue is frozen or sluggish on axlepin. | Clean corrosion from axlepin or replace if necessary. | ||
Tongue has swollen with humidity. | Ease tongue width to allow sufficient clearance in jack fork. | ||
Tongue spring is too strong. | Reduce tongue spring tension. | ||
Damper is too low in damper slot. | Adjust height of damper. | ||
Quill returns below string, but knocking sound heard on release of note. | Tongue axle pin has worked loose and is projecting from side of jack. | Reseat tongue axle pin flush to side of jack. | |
Bottom of jack is hitting nail in keyend cloth. | Realign keyboard or move offending cloth nail. |
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