[pianotech] Keeping action parts organized

Floyd Gadd fg at floydgadd.com
Mon May 11 22:16:11 MDT 2009


List,

Those of us who are receiving the photo emails from Chuck are aware that he
fielded a question today on how to keep parts organized when tearing down an
upright action.

Something worked for me when I tore down an action this winter that I think
is worth sharing.

I own a set of Spurlock key clamps, but I also built a second set out of a
ripped 2x4 with simple carriage bolts and wing nuts at each end, as per
instructions from Bill that I have somewhere, maybe in my technical exam
sourcebook.  I've padded one side of the "jaw" with recycled hammer rest
rail cloth.

I found that this made a very practical holder for action parts, sitting
just as you see it in the photo.  I adjusted the gap to achieve a gentle
friction fit for alternately the wippen heels (my wippens were constructed
in such a way that this worked, others might not) and the bottoms of the
damper levers.  At the time I didn't think of storing hammer assemblies this
way, but I just tried it now, inserting the catchers into the slot, and that
works too.

The key clamps at the length shown were too short to hold a full set, but it
would be very easy to build some long enough to accomodate 88 pieces.
Storing the parts like this makes it very easy to examine them visually,
pull out and put back parts individually, and move them around as a set.

Thanks again to Bill Spurlock for a versatile tool that just keeps getting
more useful.

Floyd Gadd
Manitoba Chapter
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