"Hacked-up" trap-work

[David M. Porritt]

Robert:

Before you go ahead with re-designing the lift mechanism how about liberally applying the dowel with a good lubricant to see if the squeak stops temporarily.  If it does, a redesign is in order.  If it doesn't, the squeak might be someplace else.  

I like your groove in the dowel for the redesign to keep it from traveling north & south.  How about a strip of leather glued on each side of the contact point to keep it from traveling east & west?

As to the pedal stop, Steinway uses just thick hammer felt cut to size and glued on the bottom of the key bed.  It seems crude to me, but it's simple and effective.  If you put in a screw, I'd make sure it was fairly substantial.  Some people really press the pedal vary hard.  

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On 9/13/00 at 1:06 PM Robert Scott wrote:

>The trap-work on this old Henry F. Miller grand looks like it has been
>replaced by some junkbox parts from other pianos and I don't think it
>is working very well.  The piano is not worth restoring to factory
>original condition, but I would like to at least stop the squeaks in
>the pedal and improve the function if not the looks of the damper pedal.
>
>In last month's Journal there was an article about drilling out a
>guide hole in the keybed for a damper lift dowel and securing that
>dowel by countersinking the two wooden members at each end of the
>dowel.  In my case the top of the dowel supports not wood but a metal
>damper lift rail - a metal rod about 3/8" in diameter which in turn
>lifts all the dampers.  I think some of the squeaking is coming from 
>the leather-lined dowel guide hole, so I would like to try the upgrade
>described in the Journal, but I don't know how to secure the top of the
>dowel to the metal damper lift rail if I drill out the guide hole.  
>Any ideas?  I can file the top end of the dowel so that it cradles the
>damper lift rail, and that will keep the dowel from falling front to
>back, but it can still fall side to side.
>
>Another problem with this damper pedal arrangement is that there is no
>stop for the pedal other than the combined stops of all the individual
>dampers.  Is that usual?  On most pianos it seems that the pedal travel
>is limited by an adjustable stop to protect overtraveling the dampers.
>Should I make a limiter by adding a capstan screw and a felt pad to the
>lever just under the keybed?  Or should I use something more substantial
>like a thick carriage bolt?  This piano gets heavy use every Sunday at
>our church.
>
>-Robert Scott
> Associate, Detroit-Windsor Chapter




David M. Porritt
dporritt@swbell.net
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275