Replacement Rep Springs

[Jon Page]

Bill,
You could make your own springs if you are so inclined.

The damper cord could be treated with CA glue to make the pointed feed.

A hi-tech version for the cord would be a teflon rod. (find that one :-)

Jon Page


At 11:15 PM 6/16/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Are the only  sources for replacement rep springs APSCo, Steinway and
>Renner?  I was all ready to replace the set of rotten rep srpings on a
>70-year-old Knabe grand, until APSCo told me that they were out of stock on
>#24538SP. Samples at my shop left over from 15 years ago match, though one
>better than the other. The one is .034" and (phosphor?) bronze colored, and
>the other is .028" and steel in appearance. The former, I'm suspecting is
>Steinway. No idea where the other came from. Looking in the hard-bound
>Renner catalog, I'm not sure how well #686 would match the existing Aeolean
>rep.
>
>Also the original spring is set in with (-) 1/8" damper cord. What other
>options are available as a center. Like drilling out to 1/8", setting the
>spring in with bushing cloth and pinning that, or simply pinning with 1/8"
>dowel. (The spring coil is < 1/8" so it wouldn't be loose and reattling on
>the dowel.) I've ordered fresh damper cord, but what I have on hand doesnt
>look as though it would take the point needed for repeated threading. (I've
>tried sizing it with acetone/keytop.)
>
>New reps? If you could see the rest of the piano, you'd agree that I'd do
>best just to fix the immediate broken spring problem, and back away as fast
>as possible. It is for a deserving pianist, but....one could catch
>meningitis from a piano in this condition.
>
>Bill Ballard, RPT
>New Hampshire Chapter, PTG
>
>"May you work on interesting pianos."
>Ancient Chinese Proverb
>
>
>