I much prefer to remove the shank, with a shank removal tool. Then you have the angle. If it is broken off too close, then use Joe Garrett's method. Much better way to get the angle. This is the first, and I hope last time I hear of someone using C/A glue, to glue the shanks to hammers or butts. C/A has it's place, but this is not one of them. John Ross, Windsor, Nova Scotia ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gerald Groot" <tunerboy3 at comcast.net> To: <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 2:34 PM Subject: Re: [pianotech] Broken hammer shank on a Yamaha Spinet The easiest way is to remove the action. More time involved but at least you will have the action on a bench where you can get at what you need to get at. Then remove the part as you have done, snip it and drill a hole in the butt. (I could add something to that butt I'd better not...)-)) Place the butt back in and dry fit the shank. If the angle isn't just right and the heels are not matching etc., you can shave the bottom part of the shank on an angle from about 1/2" up down to the bottom of the shank depending on how deep you drilled the hole in the butt. Then you can turn the shank so that it either raises or lowers the butt heel to match the correct angle. Now, drill a hole into the hammer head on the same angle as the others are after snipping the excess old one out and sanding or filing it flush with the hammer head. I usually drill it about 3/4 of the way through and then punch a very tiny hole through the top of the hammer head with a needle to allow the excess glue to ooze out. Do the same thing here. Cut the shank slowly until you have the correct height then work on the shank shaving "if necessary" on an angle from about 1/4" down the shank up to the top. That will allow front to back movement and probably some side to side movement for alignment. Personally, I prefer using Tight Bond. I have used CA before because it dries fast but, it can be a messy clean up. Once you find the correct angle's, glue er in. I glue in the bottom first. Let it dry good before you glue in the top so you don't have the whole thing moving around on you. CA works good in both cases if you want a faster dry and it will be solid but, as I said, I prefer tight bond. Just depends on the situation and time I have allowed for it. -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Rob McCall Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2009 1:55 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: [pianotech] Broken hammer shank on a Yamaha Spinet Greetings list, I serviced a 1967 Yamaha Spinet today that was in remarkably good condition, except for one small item. The owner's grandson somehow opened the lid a while back and grabbed A#4 by the hammer and broke it off. It's broken very close to the hammer butt, so I plan on using the Spurlock method with the drywall screw, wallpaper paste remover, heat, etc. to remove the remnant still left in the hammer butt. I've attached a photo of what it currently looks like. The extra glob of glue is from the owner's attempt to use gorilla glue to fix it. He said it worked for about 10 notes and then broke again. I have a new hammer shank I'm going to use. My problem is this... Normally I would glue one end into the hammer butt and then dry fit the hammer so the height matches the neighboring hammers. I would then cut off the excess above the top edge of the hammer. This hammer, though, is not drilled all the way through, so that option is out. (see photo) I could attach the hammer to the shank and then dry fit the butt end, trim as necessary and then glue, but I don't want to attempt to glue the shank in place when it's way down into the drop action. I'm afraid of getting glue on something I don't want way down in the abyss of the action. I could also remove the butt/flange and glue the shank outside of the action once the correct length has been determined and then put it back in, but getting to the flange screw is a royal pain in the... well... hammer butt. It almost takes one of those "cirque du soleil" feats of body twisting to use a thin screwdriver from underneath the keybed, between the stickers, while holding the top part from above the action. So... I'm trying to find an easier way to get the correct length without getting glue all over the place or having to remove and replace the butt flange multiple times. Any ideas, sequences, or tricks? Other than hire an apprentice, that is? :-) Rob McCall McCall Piano Service, LLC Murrieta, CA rob at mccallpiano.com www.mccallpiano.com 951-698-1875 _____ avast! Antivirus <http://www.avast.com> : Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 091010-0, 10/10/2009 Tested on: 10/11/2009 1:34:32 PM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2009 ALWIL Software.
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