Advice on regulating the piano by myself

[persona]

There are certain keys in my piano that, once released, have a lot of trouble going back up. Some of them don't even make it the whole way, and remain a little lower than they should. Others go all the way up, but much slower than the ones that work fine.
I tried to call the guy who sold it to me, but he'll always find an excuse not to come to my house (becuase it's too far away from the store), and he warned me the warranty would expire if I had any other technician look at it (they all know each other in this town).
I guess it's a problem of lubrication, but I'm not sure where to apply it. If anyone out there could please tell me what to try, AT MY OWN RISK, I'd be very thankful. I'm fully aware of the risks involved in sticking untrained hands in a piano, so I won't blame any of you if something goes wrong. But the reality is, I've been calling the technician for over 3 weeks now and he won't come. And this actually affects my playing, so any advice will be appreciated.

[persona]

hello... anyone?

[timland]

The key bushing might have swollen from humidity causing too much friction on the key pin. Piano technicians remove the keys and crush the felt bushing with special pliars so the key bushing has the proper thickness. You could try grabing the key from the front and push sideways while lifting it up and down on each side to enlarge the hole slightly. Be very careful because if the hole is enlarged  too much then your key will wobble.
It could also be a tight hinge in the action. Whatever you do don't lubricate anything.

[persona]

Thanx for the hint timland. It's very interesting you brought that up, since almost all of the keys (the ones working fine and the ones that aren't) arleady do wobble much more than they are supposed to. This led me to think that the problem is not the bushing but rather some other part of the mechanism that has too much friction, and also, that the holes are, if anything, too large as it is.
Any comments?

[timland]

If the keys wobble then you probably have some action flanges that are tight. They're held together with pins that can corrode with time causing increase friction. If a piano is played regularly it keeps it from happening. try holding down the pedal and playing one of the bad keys loud and fast many times to see if it gets better.
Check out "Piano Servicing Tuning & Rebuilding" by Arthur Reblitz for more info.


Tim

[persona]

Thanx a lot for your answer Tim. I'll try to get my hands on that book you mentioned.