Damper Lifter job completed

[Ted Simmons]

The damper lifter problem I mentioned in an earlier post was completed
today.  Since I had never done this repair before I enlisted the help of my
RPT friend Gino Bonfietti who willingly agreed to help because he had never
done this repair before either and was interested enough to help. Believe
me, it takes 2 to do this job and keep your wits about you.  We followed
Don Mannino's procedure to the letter and for the most part things went
smoothly.  The problem we ran into was tool-related.  I bought a 20-inch
long Phillips screwdriver just for this job and it was really of no help at
all.  The tool that saved the day was a 12" regular screwdriver with a very
narrow shaft and a 1/8"-wide blade.  Even though we were dealing with
Phillips screws, the blade of this tool was narrow enough to use on the
Phillips heads that mount the brackets to the lifter rail.

What we found when we removed the rail was that 2 of the 3 flanges had
broken tines at the center pin holes and the 3rd had a missing felt
bushing.  Fortunately I had matching flanges in my car.  The entire job
took 1 hour and 20 minutes and truthfully, I wouldn't want to do it again.
It was frustrating getting tools, hands and arms into the cramped workspace
and into the narrow openings provided for the flange/mounting block
assembly. Since this is the first time in 26 years that I've experienced
this problem, chances are that I'll never see it again.  We can only hope.

Thanks to all who responded.  I appreciate it very much.

Ted Simmons, Merritt Island, FL

>>>Many pianos share this design of damper tray, including Kawai. Our
>>>procedure (greatly abbreviated) is this:
>>>
>>>1. Remove sostenuto rod from the sostenuto brackets.
>>>2. Raise the upstop rail(s) all the way up.
>>>3. Disengage the pedal lever and turn the trap lever retaining hook
>>>(L-shaped hook that holds the trap lever up during moving).
>>>4. Remove the pitman
>>>5. Mark the location (up and down at both ends, side to side) of the
>>>damper flange rail on the cross-block (belly rail, whatever you want to
>>>call it).
>>>6. Remove the 3 or 4 screws which hold the damper flange rail to the
>>>cross-block.
>>>7. Gently ease the entire damper assembly towards you, gently flexing
>>>the damper wires, until the damper tray block screws are visible through
>>>the strings from above.
>>>8. Use a long thin screwdriver to remove the damper tray block screws.
>>>9. Swing the tray block up, then remove the flange screw that is hidden
>>>behind it.
>>>
>>>The block and flange are now out, and can be repinned / repaired /
>>>replaced. When all is in good working order, just carefully reassemble
>>>everything. As long as you put all the sccrews back where they were, the
>>>only adjustment that will be needed at the end will be the damper upstop
>>>rail.
>>>
>>>Let me know if you have questions about this.
>>>
>>>Don Mannino
>>
>