Catcher leather replacement

[Paul Chick (Earthlink)]

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Subject: Catcher leather replacement

 

I'm working on an old upright that has many problems.  One of them is that a
couple of octaves worth of catcher leathers are not there.  I hate to admit
it, but I have not done this repair before.  

 

I don't want to spend too much time on this, as client's budget is limited
(a professional musician..), so I was looking for tips on replacing the
missing leathers as quickly--and functionally as possible.

 

Any suggestions are appreciated!

 

Dave Stahl

 

 Dave

We remove the dampers and lay the hammers forward. The catchers will be
standing up.  We "pack" the action with cotton rags to catch any "juice"
then steam the catchers with a strip of damp cotton cloth rolled or folded
into a tube, laid across the catchers and hit with a clothes iron.  Dry them
with a heat gun, cut the catcher leather to width, and glue them on with
hide glue.  Hide glue will shrink some and pull the leather nicely to the
shape of the catcher.  If you don't use traditional hide glue, you can speed
up the drying of Liquid Hide Glue by warming the bottle in water to about
150 degrees F.  Apply it to the catcher then QUICKLY place the leather.  You
should have the hole set done in 60 to 90 minutes.  P.S. Wrap your clothes
iron on aluminum foil.  It keeps the iron clean and the Mrs. happy.

 

Paul C

 


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