Deep in thought

[John Ross]

I do basically the same thing Joe.
But I use a spot of glue on the cork, and I use haemostats, instead of 
tweezers. I also put a piece of tape around my forefinger, as I used to 
damage the quick on my finger, from poking.
John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe And Penny Goss" <imatunr@srvinet.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2005 11:20 PM
Subject: Deep in thought


> Hi Folks,
> The other day while replacing the bridal straps on an old upright with 
> cork
> tapes, the monotony of the task allowed my mind to wander into fields of
> WHY.
>
> 'Is this a right handed job or left handies job?'
> So for a while I tried to do the task moving from left to right, or
> backwards from the way I usually procede.
>
> This caused me to think about the way that might be the fastest and 
> easiest
> to accomplish the task. So here is my procedure.
>
>                                  Cork Bridal Strap Replacement
> Tools needed:
>  1.  hammer shank with sharpened center pin in one end to skewer each 
> cork.
> It does help to have a cardboard stop on the end of the hammer shank to 
> keep
> the tool from pushing the cork too far into the catcher's hole. The pin
> needs to protrude 3/16",   any longer will ruin some corks.
>  2. One pair of hands.
>  3. Some actions will require some sort of action cradle.
>  4. 10" tweezers or exacto knife
> Procedure:
> 1.  Secure the in action cradle if necessary ( non supporting action 
> bracket
> feet)
> 2.  Use your favorite method to remove old tapes. Usually I use a 10' long
> pair of tweezers as the cloth is rotten and tears easily. You can gently
> push down on the back check to tighten the cloth and reach in to grab the
> tape with the tweezers and pull sideways tearing it loose. Try to only
> seperate the tape as too much pulling can bend the wire also.
> When all the tapes have been cut,  all the back checks will be hanging 
> down
> so that the catchers hole is,
> "front and center"
> Next, remove the old tapes from the wires by first trying to grab them 
> with
> the tweezers or small pliers and lift them off the wire pulling up and 
> out..
> If the ends are so rotten that they just break,  just break or clip them 
> off
> and remove them. At this point some clean up usually is needed to remove
> debris from the bridal wire.
> 3.  Starting on the right hand side of the action, using the tool in your
> right hand, skewer a cork so that the tape is on the bottom as you push 
> the
> cork into the catchers hole. A gentle rocking up and down of the tool will
> help ease the cork into the hole. Moving the tool side to side puts a lot 
> of
> pressure on the flange bushings so you will want to support the catcher by
> holding it with your left hand.
> This is  real easy becuase there are no parts really in the way <G>
>
> During the process you may find repairs that need to be made, such as 
> loose
> glue joints and bushing repair.
>
> 4. Hooking the tapes up requires no other tools than what we have so far
> used.
> Using your left hand reach in between the back check and catcher and with
> the index and middle finger lift the end of the tape out so that the right
> hand can grasp the very end of the tape.  Sometimes the tape is a little
> hard to fish out and pushing that hammer forward will make that tape sort 
> of
> "salute" so that it can be caught. If that fails the tweezers or the 
> hammer
> shank can be used to lift the tape out.
> The next step, once the tape is in my right hand, is to push down on the
> heel of the jack  with my left index finger and in the next moment push up
> against the catcher wire so that the wippen and jack are very near to 
> where
> they will be when the tape is attached.
> Now the tape can be installed ( did you take the twist if any out of the
> tape ) .
> Note at this time if there is too much slack in the bridal tape allowing 
> the
> jack to fall below the square of felt on the hammer butt. If there is one
> can trip the jack again, and with the left hand hold the wippen and hammer
> assembly and pull back on the bridal wire with the right hand thumb on the
> wire and the index finger supporting the wippen until the wire bends at 
> its
> the base, taking out most of the slack of the tape. This usually leaves 
> the
> tape loose enough that only fine adjustments are needed, when all straps 
> are
> hooked up, and if you are lucky the tapes are just long enough to leave 
> this
> process until all straps are installed.
>
> Some other finger movement of parts will be necessary, as things do not
> always go as planned.
> Such as lifting up the catcher of the previous assembly to give more room 
> to
> work, using the fourth finger or ring finger of the right hand while not
> letting go of the tape <G>.
> I guess the reason for me that this is a right handed procedure is that 
> the
> bend in the bridal wire is such that they seem to go on easier by twisting
> the tape counter clock wise, and then clock wise as the tape is installed.
>
> There are three sizes of corks available. Mostly the medium size cork is
> what you will find is needed, however it is good to have a few sets of 
> small
> and large on hand.
> This is a noncopy righted document as are all of Mothers postings <G> LOL
> Joe Goss  BS Mus Ed MMus Ed RPT
>
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