[pianotech] Replicating Baldwin damper flanges...too wide between the ears

[Terry Farrell]

Oh, and I meant to also say that I think Joe Garrett has mentioned  
that he can make custom action parts. I think there is also a guy in  
England that does it.

Terry Farrell

On Mar 5, 2010, at 8:48 AM, Joe Public wrote:

> I have been unable to find damper flanges for a Baldwin model 248  
> studio piano circa 1981 and have been forced to be creative. A  
> family of mice lived there for a while and made a habit of running  
> down the damper flanges, peeing as they went. Needless to say we  
> have rusty and breaking damper springs.
>
> I’m not crazy about how they made the damper flanges because the  
> part of the flange that goes in the center of the coil was not  
> engineered strong enough. Replacing them with new is like hitting a  
> brick wall trying to get parts through an authorized dealer. The  
> flanges are like a conglomeration of different standard parts. They  
> have a spring length of a standard upright damper flange, close to  
> the total length of a standard spinet damper flange and a groove  
> somewhat like a wire bead rail…the screw hole to bead doesn’t seem  
> to match anything in the catalogs and distance to center pin is  
> longer too.  I do see a little hope on the horizon though.
>
> Even though the distance from center of the screw hole to wood bead  
> of the action rail is different than standard damper flanges, I was  
> able to modify a flange in a way that seems to work well. I made a  
> jig for my table saw and cut just enough off the flange on the  
> inside of the groove to make it fit down snugly and align properly.  
> The location of the center pin makes the damper just a shade closer  
> to the strings, but I can compensate by adjusting the damper timing  
> and the bottom of the damper flange will have reduced conflict with  
> the big bass string vibration.
>
> OK, here is my only issue. The standard flange I modified is too  
> wide between the ears and the damper lever is able to slide left and  
> right…more than I would like. I’m afraid the seating of the damper  
> felt might change. Does anyone know of a way to increase the height  
> of a bird’s eye? I was kind of thinking along the lines of some kind  
> of spacer you can use while pinning…something that won’t mess up  
> friction tolerances or change with use or time.
>
> Does anyone on the list have any experience with this kind of  
> problem or have a possible solution?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Dave Streit, RPT
> Portland, OR
>

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