Haines grand rep springs (again)

[Greg DesBrisay]

Hello from a Haine-Brothers-owning piano-action newbie in need of
advice!


I'm new to the list and wondering if any of you have guidance to give
regarding Haines Brothers baby grand actions.  (I found an attempt to
start a discussion on this topic in the archives from December 1999.)

Has anyone on the list found a source of repetition springs, or
successfully built their own springs for Haines Brothers baby grands?


I own a Haines Brothers baby grand built in 1931 (serial number 78173).
After unsuccessfully trying to get in contact with three local
highly-recommended folks for tuning and repair, I decided to take a look
for myself to find out why several keys have stopped working on my
piano.  I've found that several of the repetition springs are broken,
and couldn't find a source for replacement springs, so I've successfully
experimented with making my own springs.  I've now made my own
Haines-Brothers-repetition-spring-bending jig and have produced a couple
dozen replacement springs out of bronze spring wire that work well in
the piano!  (The original repetition springs are made of bronze or brass
and have a diameter of 0.032 inches; I was able to get phosphor bronze
spring wire from the kind folks at "The Instrument Workshop",
www.fortepiano.com).

Since I knew very little about how the action of a piano worked before
embarking on this project, I've been educating myself as best as I can
and getting more and more enthralled with the subject the more I learn! 
I've found a number of web sites that are helpful for teaching about
modern piano actions, and I now have a copy of Arthur Reblitz's book. 

None of these sources show the same kind of action that I find in this
Haines Brothers piano, but I've come to realize that the action is
basically the same as the action for square grands (for example, see
http://www.pianosupply.com/anonftp/square.jpg), with the addition of a
repetition spring.  The repetition spring has a shape that could roughly
be described as a "7 with a curly-cue in the tail" (I have pictures for
those who are interested).  The repetition spring is mounted on the
front side of the jack (towards the keyboard) and rests on the underside
of a felt-lined "v" grove in the bottom of the hammer butt.

This piano was originally my grandmother's piano, who bought it in 1931
or 1932, and I'm trying to resurrect it so I and my children can start
playing it again.  I figure that I'll get it in working order and then
try again to get someone knowledgable to adjust the regulation and tune
it (I realize that it'll need pitch raising since it's been a long time
since it's been tuned!).


So I have a number of questions I'm hoping you might be generous enough
to answer:

(1) Has anyone on the list found a source of repetition springs, or
successfully built their own springs for Haines Brothers baby grands?

(2) If so, did you discover any special tricks with these springs that I
ought to know about before I go any further with this project?

(3) Several of the keys with good repetition springs are quite noisy,
and I think the reason is that the springs are hanging up in the "v"
groves on the bottom of the hammer butts.  What would you recommend I
use to lubricate the "v" groves?  The felts were originally lubricated
with graphite.  (I have a "crayon" of dry-lube lubricant made for piano
actions, is that a good choice?  See
http://www.stevespianoservice.com/toolpart.htm#LUBRICANTS)

(4) Are there any good reference documents on these 1931 Haines Brothers
baby grands?  Does anyone have copies of the manauls for these pianos?

(5) Who in the San Francisco Bay Area would know how to properly
regulate, pitch raise, and tune this 1931 Haines Brothers baby grand?


In advance, thanks for any clues you can lend me!


Best Regards,

Greg DesBrisay
Piano-action neophite and owner of a 1931 Haines Brothers baby grand
g.desbrisay@ieee.rog
San Carlos, California