..damper seating..

[Howard S. Rosen]

****"Getting the action out in the first place is the toughie. I've thought
of
taking a five inch piece of thick dowel, and putting two holes in it, with
a
slot leading to one, then taking nylon rope, knotting both ends, slipping
one through a hole, and running the other around the action bracket, then
slipping it into the slot. The rope could be long enough that the "handle"
would be a few inches in front of the action. That way one could get some
real come-hither on the darned thing, without having the hammers in the way
and without risking bashing one's hand on case parts. (I bear the scar on
the back of my hand from removing a darned little bitty console action to
this day.)"****

I have never failed to remove an action, with u-shaped brackets, this way:

Hold your tuning lever with the tip pointing down (6 o'clock), and the
handle up (12 o'clock), and with the star tip pointing to your body. Now
place the star tip behind the u shaped bracket while the rest of the tuning
tip sits on the bolt. Now lean the handle back against the top of the piano
which acts as a fulcrum. Rap the top of the handle gently and smartly and
the tip then forces the action bracket out. Do a little on each bracket to
remeove the action evenly.

With regard to those Baldwin drop actions, I too sweated plenty trying to
replace them. I found that using a heavy duty screw driver really helps to
get those screws started. It still requires more than an average amount of
muscle but it works much better than the lighter weight screw drivers I
carry for normal piano work in my carrying case.



Howard S. Rosen, RPT
Boynton Beach, Florida