Wheelock was an Aeolian brand, not an American brand, and the one that I have worked on recently, from about 1930 is not worth restoring, at least not for the person who owns it. So what say ye, ladies and gentlemen ? Triage or trash ? I did some rough calcs on new strings, hammers etc and came up with a few k because of the labor involved and extent of the deterioration. I worked on another Wheelock grand not long ago but it had a totally different trapworks setup and the action slid into place by going up a slight inclined ramp on the keybed. The piano looks like it amy have been made by Aeolian. Maybe a little cosmetic cleanup on the soundboard etc I'm thinking the best thing to so is some of the repairs, light filing of hammers and a little needling, rebush the damper guides and use CA glue to juice the pins. Restringing will cost $$$ as will hammers.
So fellow technicians what would you suggest ? Damper guide rail bushings are loose and/or missing so there is a lot of damper noise, backchecks very, very worn. Tone is tinny and hammers are hard with blow distance over 2 inches and hammers at rest sitting on the rest rail. The biggest issue by far is loose pin block Samples read 15 inch lbs at F5l 20 at G5 20 at F7 A1 bass string at 20 F3 at 30 - you get the picture. broken strings in octave 7, some chipped key top front edges, flattened hammers, worn felts etc. There are major issues with rusty strings and tuning pins. Anyhow he wants quotes for different scenarios. I think he may be better off doing some minimal work on it and saving up for aīetter new or used piano.
It is a family piano that the person is inheriting and he is willing to put a little money ( he mentioned $2k). Did an inspection on a Wheelock Grand today.