pedal lyre screws are obsolete

[Dave Nereson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Alpha88x@aol.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2003 9:21 PM
Subject: pedal lyre screws are obsolete


> greetings,
 >. . . . . .Does anyone know where I can obtain such obsolete fastners? Someone at a 
> hardware store mentioned a place named Constantine's in New York. Has anyone 
> heard of this place? The national 1-800 directory assistance has no phone number 
> on them and typing in www.constantine results in web page under construction 
> message, so I cannot even be sure if this is the right constantine company. 
> 
> thanks, 
> Julia Gottschall
> piano rookie,
> Reading, PA 
     
    On page 134 of the Schaff catalog, they list big screws ranging from #18 to #24.  The price list doesn't say "discontinued", so maybe they're still available.  They're not quite obsolete -- just getting harder to find.  
    Is there any kind of surplus tool and commodity place around there -- you know, scrap or surplus industrial stuff?  If not, I would follow the suggestion of using lag screws.  Yes, do junk at least one old upright next time you have a line on one.  Or a grand, but they don't usually have as many long screws as uprights.  I've been known to find one in an alley and stop right then and there and take out as many screws as I can (power screwdriver is always in the car).  There's some danger if the tension has not been let down, however.   
    Another possible source is a piano dealer that gets pianos such as Yamahas that come in crates -- there are several packing and bracing blocks that are fastened with long screws and sometimes these just get tossed.   Ask them if you could have a few of the screws.  
    Albert Constantine Jr.  wrote "Know Your Woods"  and "Home Course of Instruction in Wood Finishing", and had courses on veneering, etc., and sold woods and wood finishing supplies at Albert Constantine & Son, Inc., 2050 Eastchester Rd., New York, NY.  But all the publications I have are quite old (1950's), so that place may no longer exist.  I don't know if he's still living.  But I think I remember getting a Constantine catalog in the mail within the last few years.  
    His father, Albert Sr. (1862-1948) was extremely knowledgeable of woods and his great grandfather, Thomas Constantine, was a friend and neighbor of Duncan Phyfe, the famous cabinetmaker. 
    If plugging the holes and using lag screws doesn't work for some reason, you can drill all the way up through the keybed, recess tee-nuts into the holes, and use machine bolts to fasten the lyre on. 
    --David Nereson, RPT