[pianotech] but will it split

[John Delacour]

At 17:05 -0800 25/12/08, Gene Nelson wrote:

>Thanks everyone for your replies.
>Dale, I purchased the capstans from Jurgen at Piano Frote Supply 
>several months ago. I thought that the conversion would be simple - 
>locate and drill holes and start adjusting - wrong.
>Capstans are one inch long and require some sort of relief cut on 
>the tray or counter sink for the upper shoulder of the capstan or 
>trimming the bottom threads off or similar.
>I say this only because of the way it appears to fit based on the 
>hight of the underlever felt on the tray - thought that getting the 
>top of the capstan at the same hight as the felt would be a good 
>place to start.
>As with any conversion/modification, it will take a bit more thought 
>than I thought.


Here's what I'd do, here's what I _have_ done indeed very roughly, 
illustrated below, and you can use either the capstans you've got 
from Jurgen, as illustrated here, or plain grand key capstans.  The 
advantage of the ones you have is that you can use a softer wood for 
the L-rail.  The hexagon heads are useful only for turning in the 
screws, since there's no room for spanners, no matter how 
thin-walled,given the spacing of the dampers.  There is a better 
screw without the hex head still illustrated in many catalogues, but 
last time I ordered them, these are what I got.  Here I've used a bit 
of tulipwood.

Saw or plane off 3/4" or so from the lift rail and make up the L-rail 
to glue or screw at the front. This can be made up in two pieces if 
you like.

The damper bodies here are full width, so there is no question of the 
glue sticking.  With thin bodies like the Steinway I'd make the cloth 
pieces slightly wider than the wood so as to give a fillet of glue on 
each side for greater security.  Good hot thickish animal glue, of 
course.

All the European versions of this addition I've seen have the 
adjusting screw turned into the body, but that's not possible with 
the half-width bodies as on Steinways -- anyway the rail is better, 
since you're putting no strain on the centres.

JD






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