brass rail hardware

[gordon stelter]

Maybe even more stuff to keep Striecher busy???
    Thump
--- Dave Nereson <davner@kaosol.net> wrote:
>     When encountering broken butt plates on brass
> rail upright actions, I've
> always been able to keep the same screw and just
> replace the butt plate.
> Until a few years ago, or until the demise of APSCO.
>  The screws and butt
> plates supplied by APSCO were 3-56 (#3 screws, 56
> threads per inch), which
> is what was in most old uprights.  But the ones ya
> get from Schaff now are
> 3-48.  So you not only have to put in a new butt
> plate, but change the
> screw, too, since the old one won't fit the new
> plate.  This involves
> finding a screw-holder or screw-holding screwdriver
> that will fit between
> damper levers (haven't found one yet), or using
> tweezers to insert the new
> screw, a step that was unnecessary when they used to
> supply screws the same
> as what was in the piano.
>     Not only that, but the screws are too @#*$%
> long!!  When inserted and
> tightened, they run right into the hammer butt,
> preventing the screw from
> being tightened all the way and preventing the butt
> from moving!!  Didn't
> they try them out first before they started selling
> them?  Typical Schaff
> (shaft), in my opinion.  So you have to first cut
> the screw shorter, then
> file it square so it will thread into the butt
> plate, then remove a damper
> lever or use long tweezers to get the new screw in.
>     The original screws are conical on the underside
> of the head, to fit the
> countersunk hole in the brass rail.  But Schaff just
> gives you plain old
> round-head screws that don't quite get the same
> torque in drawing the butt
> plate up to the center pin, because they don't seat
> correctly in the hole.
> Plus the plates themselves have a bevel on one face
> for some unknown reason,
> and the edges aren't quite parallel, so they don't
> quite fit the butt-plate
> holder that Schaff sells, either!
>     Like breakfast cereal companies, with their
> impossible-to-tear-open
> inner bags, they don't care if you can use the
> product, or whether it works,
> just as long as you buy it.
>     So, along with the old slotted, good quality
> steel wood screws, save
> some of that old brass rail hardware, damper head
> screws, brass damper
> lifter rod hangers, fallboard locks, etc.  They
> won't keep making them
> forever.
>      --David Nereson, RPT
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> pianotech list info:
https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives


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