Hammer Butt Alignment

[Roger Jolly]

Greetings Ted,
               Another wise approach, as usual. I have always done the job
from the bottom up, using a rubber backed  metal clamp to trim the shanks
to the correct length.
  From your post I'm a little unclear about your wooden strips. Is this
engineered, so that the tail of the catcher rests on the lip of the groove?
  I like the idea of slow setting glue, it gives some working time, I think
most factories use your approach of pre hanging hammers, with varying
twist. Pencil sharpening, or tappering the bottom of the shank. (Which I
don't like) Seems to give some inconsistent wood tone at times!!!!
  Remind me to pick your brains next week at Banff, I'll bring a good
bottle of single malt as shared payment.

Kind regards, Roger





At 06:27 PM 4/17/98 MDT, you wrote:
>                      RE>>Hammer Butt Alignment                    17/04/98
>Dear Avery,
>
>Roger's advice is good, and shanks should also be tested by dropping them
>one at a time on a hardwood board and listening for a bright sharp sound.
>Dull sounding ones should be rejected.
>
>To ensure a nice straight line of catches, first remove the hammer rail
>cloth as Roger says, then wedge up the hammer rail at the brackets until
>the hammer shanks lie evenly on the rail between the top and bottom edges
>of the rail. By the way, a paint scraper does a nice job of cleaning glue
>off the rail.
>
>Next,assuming your shanks are ready to glue into the butts, glue one in at
>each end of each section, aligning to strings, etc. and allow to set. Now,
>you need to make a set (usually three) of softwood bars, one for each
>section long enough to fit between the brackets, 1"x1.25" if the catches
>have no hole extension, (where corks go) or if they do have the hole, 1"x 1
>and 5/8:. For the short catches cut a 1/2' deep groove along the length,
>5/8ths wide, or for long catches with the holes 1 and 5/8ths." 
>
>Shanks should be glued into the hammerheads first to a consistent pitch
>angle, 85 or 87deg. or whatever is correct.( Yamaha supplies hammers with 
>shanks ready glued and cut to length for their various models.) You may now
>fit the appropiate bars over  all the catches and drop the rest of the
>shanks in the butts for a dry fit. The shanks should be loose enough in the
>butts to permit each hammer to move 1/8th." each way towards the bass or
>treble, and the height should be levelled with a straighedge on top of the
>moldings. When gluing, use a slow setting glue, Franklin cold hide glue is
>perfect, and get them in and well pushed to the bottom of the holes, but
>just one section at a time. as quickly as possible without trying to space
>or square them.
>Finally, space and square to strings using a pair of parallel pliers to
>grip the shanks just above the butts. I promise you the job will look like
>good factory work.
>
>Actually, I will be covering this whole topic in the class I am presenting
>in Providence, so it would be great if you are able to be there, but I
>thought it might be helpful to give you a foretaste in the meantime.
>
>Regards, Ted
>
>Ted_Sambell@banffcentre.ab.ca
>--------------------------------------
>Date: 16/04/98 6:48 PM
>To: Ted Sambell
>From: pianotech
>At 04:01 PM 4/16/98 -0400, you wrote:
>>Avery Todd wrote:
>>>    Next week sometime, I'll be installing a set of hammers/shanks/butts
>>> on a Mason & Hamlin vertical. Something I have not figured out yet,
>>> probably because I haven't done enough verticals, is how to end up with
>>> a nice straight line of butt catchers when you're finished.
>
>
>Greetings Avery,
>                 First thing to check is your new hammer shanks, I have a
>board of kitchen counter top material about 12" X 20", prop up one end of
>the board about 3", if you let the shanks roll down the board you will soon
>spot the warped ones. Discard any that wobble, save you a ton of work with
>spaceing later.  The new butt flanges I very lightly sand with 220 grit
>sand paper to remove swarf, saves on travel later. Use the correct drill
>size bit to check that the butt, shank hole is clean from swarf, just
>rotate the drill bit with your fingers, after all you are just ensuring the
>hole is clean.
>  Remove back rail felt, check rail for sraightness, if O.K. use as a
>guide.
>dry fit the straight shanks, rotate the dry shanks and observe catcher
>movement, this a double check for straightness of shanks. 
>  If you have correct fit, shank to butt, you can check for the really
>badly travelling shanks and correct accordingly, normally this procedure
>produces a really nice straight catcher line. Having said this, I usually
>find a few badly glued in catchers, depending on how gross, I'll reglue or
>put them in the high treble.
>  The big key here is working with straight shanks.
>  Once I've glued the shanks in place, I'll re-travel and space the shanks.
>Remember to correctly orientate the grain of the shanks as this will effect
>the stability of your straight line.
>Have fun Roger.
>Roger Jolly
>Balwin Yamaha Piano Centres.
>Saskatoon/Regina.
>Canada.
>
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Roger Jolly
Balwin Yamaha Piano Centres.
Saskatoon/Regina.
Canada.