Broken Agraffe Results

[Farrell]

I had posted a couple weeks ago about an upcoming agraffe repair I had scheduled - it was to be a first time thing.

All went well. I went armed with fancy filed screwdriver, punch thingee, and left handed drill bits. Started by tapping with center punch type tool (only it was not hardened steel and had a very pointed tip) on an angle to try and turn it. That didn't seem to work, so I thought I would have to drill. So I tried to make a depression in the middle of the stem top, and the only thing I did with that was break the steel tip off right into the top center of the brass agraffe stem. So I pounded a bit with various tools to try and get that out - to no avail. I thought this was troublesome because how was I going to drill into the center of the stem if I had a steel chunk in there? So just for the yahoo of it I tried one last time to see if I could get in turning by tapping at the stem top on an angle. I guess all the pounding I did loosened it finally and it started turning - it came out nice and easy. Got the new one in nice and snug, all lined up, and at correct height (or at least the height most were at - they were really all over the place).

Thanks all for the ideas and tips that were provided. The guy even made a comment that he thought the piano would have to go to a repair shop to fix it and that it would be a huge job. He said "I'm glad I called a professional". I guess that guy couldn't come, but I'm glad he called me also! And I'm glad I have this resource and the help of you folks to make me look good (professionally speaking).

THANKS!

Terry Farrell