replacing upright liftrod hanger

[Avery Todd]

Clyde,

It's been a long time since I've done one of these but I have a couple
of thoughts/questions.

Why do the hooks need replacing? Is one or more broken? Is the pad
between the two pieces missing/worn out? Could you make the bass
dampers lift sooner by replacing the pad between them and then
regulating the damper lift by bending some wires?

Has it been too long for me to be responding to a question like this?
Am I missing something? Entirely possible. It's gotten entirely too
close to freezing today for a location like Houston! :-)

Avery

At 06:16 PM 11/28/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Friends,
>
>The piano, 1974 Kimball console.  When I start pressing the sustain
>pedal the treble dampers lift first, then each damper closer to the
>tenor section lifts later than the last.  The bass dampers don't lift at
>all even when the pedal is the whole way down.  This piano has one of
>those two-piece liftrods.
>
>So, what is the best way to replace a liftrod hanger hook or whatever
>it's called?  I have an appropriate length of the right gauge metal
>stock (.125) to make a new hook.  Do I drive it into the liftrod and
>then try to bend it?  That's hard to do, since on this piano the gap
>between the liftrod and the bent-over part of the hanger is only a
>little more than a 1/4", and I don't know how I can get a nice bend.
>But if I bend it first, hammering it in the hole will probably be
>impossible.  What is the best way to do this unsavory repair?
>
>A second question, just as a matter of curiosity -- this is the third
>piano I've found with some sort of modification to the sustain
>mechanism.  A piece of bent strap metal about 5 1/2" long is bolted into
>the hole of the liftrod tongue and extends vertically downward.  The
>wood dowel has been shortened so its pin will fit in a hole at the
>bottom end of the strap metal.  The first time I saw this I assumed some
>piano technician was trying to solve some problem unknown to me, but now
>I've come across this about three times, and I think they were always in
>Kimball consoles.  Did they do this in the factory, and if so, why??
>
>Regards,
>Clyde