1876 Knabe grand with screw in dampers

[Phillip Ford]

>>  List
>>   It must be my month for old relics.First an 1880 bechstein, 1870 9 ft 
>> steinway ugh.
>>   However I just took in this amazingly well preseved piano for some 
>> light rebuilding. ie. strings ,shanks hammers, dampers etc. The board 
>> and bridges in remarkably good condition with power & sustain. The down 
>> size is that it has the screw in damper wires & I must remove them to 
>> string & replace the felt. What does one do other than spending half a 
>> day unsrewing the bloomin thingees?
>>    Dale
>
>Curse.--Phil Ford
>
>
>Why didn't I think of that!!!!!!!!
>
>   Dale


Glad to be of help.  If you're planning to reuse the existing back action I 
don't see that you have any choice but to spin them all off.  At that point 
I guess you can decide if you're going to spin them back on, or replace the 
wires and drill out the damper blocks and put screws in them.  I haven't 
done one of these in a while, but the last one I did (a Chickering, I 
think) I made a tool to fit in a drill to spin the things off and on.  Take 
a strip of hardwood maybe 3/4 in. square.  Cut a slot in it on the table 
saw slightly wider than the damper heads and maybe 1/4 in. or so deep 
(depth may depend on shape of damper head - the Chickering style was 
essentially flat on top).  Cut it to length of maybe 1 inch.  Drill a hole 
in the top side (opposite from slot).  Take a piece of 1/4 in. rod (or size 
of your choice) and thread one end.  Screw on a nut.  Apply some epoxy to 
threads and hole in wood block, screw into wood block, and tighten nut 
against block.  Wait for epoxy to set.  Chuck unthreaded end of rod into 
drill (preferably portable variable speed).  When spinning out you can use 
a reasonably high speed.  When spinning in, do a couple of samples by hand 
to figure out the number of turns required to get the damper levers at the 
right height.  Then set the drill on a low enough speed that you can count 
the number of turns.  It's a good idea to get them started well by hand, 
maybe one or two full turns.

One tip (you may already know this) - it helps to completely remove the 
damper upstop rail, rather than move it to the top of its travel.  Take out 
the screws and let the upstop rail lay on the damper levers.  This allows 
you to lift the dampers much higher so that the heads will clear things 
like other damper heads, and if you're lucky, plate struts.  In some cases
flipping the damper heads over helps.  On some dampers next to the plate struts you
may have to orient the damper head vertical to screw it out.  In some cases
on damper heads by plate struts I've just unscrewed the damper head and
removed it altogether and then spun out the wire.

Still a pain in the neck, but the pain doesn't last as long.  Look at the 
bright side - you can adjust the damper timing with the action in the piano.

Don't forget to curse.

Phil



Phillip Ford
Piano Service and Restoration
San Francisco, CA