[pianotech] Brass rail problems

[bppiano at aol.com]

as far as I can tell, the hammers were never properly?aligned. The string lines on the hammer show the right string was barely touched by the  hammer; not enough to get anything close to matching the volume of the left string.

Bruce P.


-----Original Message-----
From: Conrad Hoffsommer <hoffsoco at luther.edu>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Sun, Aug 2, 2009 6:06 am
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Brass rail problems



Folks,


Question... is shank warpage the problem or is the cause actually
over-striking from extreme wear of the hammers?  If they look like
they've been filed, that would explain why they aren't also playing
two notes simultaneously. (besides generous spacing between the
unisons)

If they haven't been filed and you bend the shanks, _then_ file them,
you may not be happy with the end result.  File first...   In the best
of all possible worlds, the real solution is probably installing new
hammers. However, in this case, that sounds like it would be e budget
buster.

Conrad


On 8/1/09, Ryan Sowers <tunerryan at gmail.com> wrote:
> I use a pair of electric shank bending pliers available from Schaff. It's
> kind of a funky tool, but it does the job. I had to work with the "pliers"
> part of the tool to get them to fit the shanks better. You'll need a
> rheostat (or if your cheap like me, a dimmer switch) to keep from scorching
> the shanks. Grab them as near to the bottom as you can. It should only take
> about 4 seconds or so to get it to lean over the direction you want
>
> In the factory they can taper the bottom of the shanks when they are
> installing the pre-shanked hammers. This gives the installer quite a bit of
> latitude for lining up to the strings. But if they are already installed,
> the shank benders seem the next best option.
>
> On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 3:55 PM, <bppiano at aol.com> wrote:
>
>> I just recently tuned a piano with brass rails, fully expecting problems,
>> I
>> brought all my spare brass flange parts.  Alas, they're all holding,
>> however; in the bichord section, well over half on the hammers are only
>> hitting the left of the two strings.  How do I align these hammers?  This
>> family was given this piano from relatives, he's teaches English and a
>> small
>> liberal arts college here in Colorado Springs.  Not a big budget.  When
>> you
>> run across a family that actually uses the piano, it sure gives you a
>> reason
>> to help them out.

>>  Bruce Pennington, RPT
> --
> Ryan Sowers, RPT

>

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