Tom: Sincere thanks for the terrific explanations, provided with great clarity & detail. I now know exactly how to proceed. Yes, this is the second lever. As for why the lever failed...well, this piano endured 40 years in the Chapel at Howard University, a Historically Black University, unlocked after a few years of protection when it was new, and was used for gospel choir rehearsals, regular church services, funerals and weddings, student practice on a whim during the day and night, etc. In sum, it was beat to death! I've never seen hammers with such wear! Never seen teflon action centers so loose! Or key mortises so BIG! Or key sides or fallboard gouged so deeply. Bent pedal rods, even a bent damper pedal. And a couple cracked keysticks. The piano has now been moved to the 110-seat recital hall, a strictly controlled environment, and the piano will therefore no longer be exposed to abuse or neglect. I'm resurrecting it without full rebuild, just new Steinway hammers/s/f and lots of repairs. This is our only potentially concert-level instrument within the Department of Music at this time, so that's why I'm trying to save it. Hopefully someday it will be fully rebuilt. In the meantime, my goal is to bring it up to at least a nominally acceptable university performance level. Wish me luck! I am intrigued by your idea of relocating the stop felt, thereby protecting things from excess load. I probably won't do that, since I've got a million other things to do before placement auditions next week, but will certainly file it away for future reference. Thanks again, Paul -- Paul Milesi, RPT Staff Piano Technician Howard University Department of Music Washington, DC > From: <mcneiltom at aol.com> > Reply-To: <mcneiltom at aol.com>, <caut at ptg.org> > Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:42:14 +0000 > To: "caut at ptg.org" <caut at ptg.org> > Subject: Re: [CAUT] Sostenuto Trap Lever Repair > > Hi, Paul - > > A glue repair should work well in this situation. A break along the grain, > not having been glued previously, will provide a perfect fit. And the > resulting joint can indeed be stronger than the original wood. And besides, > it was holding - almost anyway - with a bit of packaging tape. > We should try to determine why this failed and see if we can prevent a > recurrence. Of course being made from cross-grain stock makes the lever > weaker, but it took pretty substantial loading to cause this failure. This > appears to be the 'second' lever, the one pushing the pitman dowel. And the > stop felt is provided near the end bearing the pitman. That arrangement is > OK for the light loading ordinarily encountered, and it's easy to install > there. An improvement is to place the stop on the other lever, above the > pedal rod, protecting both levers and everything 'downstream' from excess > load. > > Yes, that's leather on the rounded end of the lever. (The other lever will be > bare wood). Not much trouble to replace it while the lever is on the > workbench. Peel it off, scrape to bare wood, and glue the new leather on with > contact cement. Use flexible leather about the same thickness as original. > The smooth side gets the glue; the 'suede' surface will bear against the other > lever. Make the new leather large on all three exposed edges and trim neatly > with a razor blade after gluing. Rub a bit of grease into the 'suede' and > your done. > > ~ Tom McNeil ~ > Vermont Piano Restorations > > Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry > > -----Original Message----- > From: "Paul Milesi, RPT" <paul at pmpiano.com> > Sender: caut-bounces at ptg.org > Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2010 02:11:11 > To: PTG CAUT List<caut at ptg.org> > Reply-To: caut at ptg.org > Subject: [CAUT] Sostenuto Trap Lever Repair > > Check out the attached photos of a 1970 Steinway D sostenuto trap lever > which is cracked the long way and with the direction of stress. Someone > tried to repair it at some point by wrapping it with packing tape (no glue). > > What are the chances of effecting a successful glue repair? I know I've > been told many times that a glue repair is stronger than the original wood, > but will it really take the stress of the leverage applied by the sostenuto > pedal along such a long break? > > I just finished loading it up with Titebond and clamping tightly with an > aluminum rail on one side for support, and a couple small clamps holding > portions that extend to a point, etc. Figure I'll give it 24 hours clamped, > see what happens. Any bets? If it doesn't work, I guess the school will > just have to spring for a new one. If this piano ends up being used for > recitals, would buying new be more reliable than a repair? > > Also, the half-rounded part that interfaces with the other wooden lever > seems to be covered with something thick and black. Is this just old grease > of some kind, or is there supposed to be leather there and it's > disintegrated? > -- > Paul Milesi, RPT > Staff Piano Technician > Howard University Department of Music > Washington, DC > >
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