I tuned a 1930s Challen (long-gone English make) upright piano today. The owner had used a small piece of card stuck to an action rail to compensate for a broken bass damper spring by pusing the damper wire forward, and had replaced a broken or missing jack spring with a very strong little piece of spiral spring, which he couldn't remember where he got. Neither solution worked well, but both were better than nothing, and showed ingenuity! The proper solution, of course, was to call me! I'm not sure why, but I always find fitting a new damper spring rather satisfying. Challen made a lot of small grands and there are loads of them around. They were very solidly built, but none of them sound or feel great, in my experience. Some of their upright pianos were quite good though. Best, David Boyce
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