Alan Crane showed us a neat trick at a Guild meeting a few years back. I don't know if it was his own idea, or if he stole it from someone else. In any case, I stole it from him. It works like this. Taking butt in hand (let's hear it for visual aids), trim the shank off flush with the butt. Drill a small (1/8" or so) hole down the center of the shank to the bottom. Drive a 1 1/2" drywall screw into the hole, heat the screw with a propane torch (Bic it in a home service situation), and pull the shank out with your regular shank puller using the butt and screw head instead of the usual shank clamp as leverage points. The screw takes the heat to the bottom of the hole, heating the shank, therefore the glue, clear through, and the shank slides out cleanly and easily. Leaves a clean hole for the replacement. This works with maple, birch, cedar, or any other flavor shank you will find in a piano regardless of how soft the wood, or how mis-directed the grain. As for doing a whole set, I would think the butt leather would be old and dead enough that you would be ahead replacing the butts as well and eliminating the above procedure altogether. Time is money, and as long as one or the other is going to be spent, new butts will make you look better (nothing personal). Ron Nossaman
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