old Steinway underlevers

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

HI Fred:

This looks to me like an ideal situation for replacing the entire damper
tray assembly. Rick Baldassin and Chris Robinson have done a class several
times on installing the Renner Damper assembly. Many people have done the
halfway job of installing the bullets, but the horizontal flanges will 
still be a problem from time to time. When one of those glued 
horizontal flanges breaks loose (and at this age, it is likely) it will be 
difficult to explain to the client why they still have damper problems.

The piano is not old enough yet to have historical value, so I wouldn't 
worry about preserving original equipment. The sostenuto action will 
definitely be improved as well as general dependability.

Check with Rick Baldassin in Salt Lake City about prices and installation
instructions.

Jim Coleman, Sr.

On Tue, 5 Jan 1999, fred s sturm wrote:

> I have an old Steinway D (ser 150050) under my care that has its original
> underlevers - the ones with the fixed sostenuto tabs and the damperwire
> retaining screws (I'm sure there is a better technical term for those)
> "threaded" into the wood. Of course, after a humdred years, many have
> stripped, with all the resultant problems, and I'd like to deal with those
> problems by forestalling them.
> 	My preference would be to replace all the underlevers, so as to
> have hinged sostenuto tabs, and reliable new wood, etc. The other option
> is to drill and install metal inserts. My question is, "How troublesome is
> it to replace a set of underlevers?"
> 	These underlevers have the flanges horizontally attached to the
> damper tray (don't know if glued or screwed at this point, but I can
> handle that problem all right). I assume, never having done this
> replacement, that these are non-standard parts, and that something would
> have to be patched together - I see listed in a catalogue flanges for old
> Steinway, which I presume are intended to be attached to other
> underlevers, but is there an underlever with the right dimensions?
> 	Anyone out there have some good advise (or even marginally good
> advise) for me? This is for a prep school I service, and they'll need a
> bid, so I can't just tear in and then decide.
> Thanks!
> 
> Fred Sturm, RPT
> University of New Mexico
> 
>