On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 9:18 AM, Joe And Penny Goss <imatunr at srvinet.com>wrote: > One other thing that will help is to take the time break the wood dowel > free as you are putting the elbow on. > Saves one from getting fustrated when regulating lost motion later. > Joe Goss RPT > Mother Goose Tools > imatunr at srvinet.com > www.mothergoosetools.com > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* Claude Harding <charding88 at comcast.net> > *To:* toddpianoworks at att.net ; pianotech at ptg.org > *Sent:* Thursday, February 05, 2009 8:45 AM > *Subject:* Re: [pianotech] Elbow Replacement (quick question) > > Matthew, > You have gotten a lot of good advice to your question. I'll go ahead and > add my two cents worth. > > As has been mentioned, if you can duplicate the distance between the > elbow's contact with the center pin on the wippen and the regulating button > on the other end of the wire, you will save yourself quite a bit of time > with the regulating after the installation. > > Even at my somewhat advanced age, I get on the floor and do this job in > the home, using the Vagias snap-on elbows. > > 1. I put a sheet or towels down on the floor and inside the piano bottom > to catch as much of the debris as possible. > > 2. I break off the old, brittle elbows with my needle-nose pliers. Most > of the elbows will crush or shatter easily. If some part of the elbow > doesn't break easily, I hold it with my pliers and tug gently while heating > the elbow with my heat gun. It doesn't take but a few seconds before the > rest of the elbow will melt enough to easily pull off the center pin. > WARNING: Be careful to not damage the pin or break out the sides of the > wippen. While you are crushing pieces of the elbow, the material can spread > out and push against the sides of the wippen. While you are pulling or > crushing the elbow pieces, work carefully and you will avoid trouble. > > 3. I take each elbow out in order and lay them on the floor beside me, in > order. Then, like others have suggested, I clamp my vice grip pliers on the > wire at the top of the old elbow, break off whatever remains of the old > elbow, and screw on the new elbow until it butts up against the vice grips. > This only take seconds, and the vice grips can make a nice handle to twirl > of spin the wire into the new elbow. > > 4. Put each new elbow/wire assembly back on in the same order. This > minimizes regulation at the end of the job. I work by sections, bass, > tenor, treble. Finish one section and then go to the next. > WARNING: When snapping the new elbow onto the center pin, reach behind > the wippen and support it with a finger of the other hand against the > pressure of the elbow snapping on. This is especially important if the > wippen flanges might be plastic of the same vintage (Unless you are ready to > sell that job, too.) > > 5. When all the elbows have been replaced, regulate the jack position > under the butts by adjusting the button on the end of the sticker wire. > Check other regulation items, then tune or collect your check for this job. > > 6. BE SURE to clean up after yourself when this job is done. Bring in > your vacuum, and clean out the inside of the piano, AND the floor outside > the piano. > > As someone mentioned, this job is coming up less frequently than in the > past. Eventually, all these old plastic elbows will get replaced or the > pianos with them will get tossed. > This job takes me about two to two and a half hours. You may be quicker > than I am because you are young and limber. > > Good luck. > Hope to see you at the next chapter meeting. > > Claude Harding > > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] *On > Behalf Of *Matthew Todd > *Sent:* Wednesday, February 04, 2009 5:52 PM > *To:* pianotech at ptg.org > *Subject:* [pianotech] Elbow Replacement (quick question) > > When screwing on the new elbows, do we normally screw till the elbow > just covers the threads on the lifter wire, or do we screw until the lifter > wire is all the way down in the hole? > > OR, does it not matter? > > ***TODD PIANO WORKS* > Matthew Todd, Piano Technician > (979) 248-9578 > http://www.toddpianoworks.com > > Hi Matthew, I'm old school and use the vice grip at the top of the old elbow as a "stop" for the new elbow. Some old elbows will crumble off, the last set I did, on a Gulbranson spinet, were particularly gooey, except at the bend where they broke rather easily. I had to turn almost all of them off and cut and cajole nearly all of them out of the whippen opening. Being 6"4" and try as I might not being able to get my weight below 285, I have never considered Claude's method of replacing them en masse, in the piano. I have done the odd one or two in the piano, here and there but I much prefer to do this job on my bench, especially that last one!! Mike -- I intend to live forever. So far, so good. Steven Wright Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090206/5525bb10/attachment-0001.html>
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