Steinway pitman replacement (was squeaks and rattles)

[FSSturm@aol.com]

Dear list,
I just wanted to share a simpler way to replace the old Steinway brass
pitman. I had a customer who had a Steinway from the bad old days of the 70's
which had an EXTREMELY heavy pedal action. Turned out they had a brass
shortage that year ;-), and used a wooden dowel with leather glued to each
end as a subsitute. I described the fix I had read about in the PTJ, and the
customer was very reluctant to let me make a big hole in her piano (enlarge
the pitman hole). I said I would give it some thought.

Next day I was in a building supply store and saw some brass rod in varying
diameters. I had been contemplating whether a smaller diameter wooden dowel
with pins in its ends would hold up to wear, and seeing the brass, I realized
this was the material I needed. I purchased a piece of 5/16" rod, cut it to
pitman length, filed and polished the cut end, drilled the ends slightly
undersized to receive press fit bridge pins.

Then I went to the piano, removed the felt bushing from the pitman hole, and
drilled two holes: in the underlever and the damper tray. I located the holes
by setting my new pitman in place and working the mechanism to make sure I
would have clearance at both ends of the pitman hole (The pitman needs to set
close to the back of the hole (towards the tail of the piano) at rest, and
will swing to the front during play). I forget if I found it necessary to
replace the leather on the underlever and or the tray. Anyway, this was very
fast, simple, and eliminated the need to start a forstner bit "cold" around
an already existing hole, or to plug the hole with a dowel and then drill
(the solution I had originally planned). The customer was absolutely
delighted. She could barely push down the pedal before, and now it behaved
like a normal piano.

There could still be a problem of a squeak between the new pitman pins and
the holes I drilled (they should really be bushed, though they often aren't
on production pianos that use this sort of system with a wooden dowel), but
this hasn't happened to date. I agree the new Steinway system is superior to
what I describe, but my fix is cheaper, simpler, and probably reliable enough
for most home uses.

regards,
Fred Sturm, RPT
Albuquerque

PS. Barrie, I love your "vellum-hinged wall hanger".
 I guessed what it was, but found that descriptive title most amusing and
appropriate, in keeping with our "squirrel-cage" or "bird-cage" to describe
upright overlever damper systems.