[pianotech] Plastic Flange Replacement

[David Weiss]

I had a similar situation with a Mason Hamlin console.  Beautiful piano with
ivory keys and in great shape except for the plastic damper flanges.  Like
yours, most of them had crumbled and the damper levers were laying in the
bottom of the piano.  (It also had plastic jack flanges which I replaced.) 

A dealer sold me the piano cheaply and I took it as a "rainy day project". I
thought I was smart enough to figure out a way to replace the damper flanges
and get the dampers working without too much aggravation.  Was I wrong, it
took me forever!  I finally finished it and sold the piano. I didn't keep
track of my time but I probably ended up making about $2 per hour!

Joking aside, I think it was worth it because it was such a nice piano.  Not
sure with an Estey.

David Weiss  

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Terry Farrell
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2013 3:09 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: [pianotech] Plastic Flange Replacement

I have a client with a 1950's Estey console with plastic flanges on the
damper levers that are crumbling to pieces. No plastic flanges anywhere else
on piano. The piano is in good to even very good condition for its age -
regulation is even pretty good. Client want to fix the piano if the cost is
not too high.

I've run across crumbling plastic flanges numerous times in the past, but
the client has always chosen to junk the piano rather than do the repair.
However, in this case with the piano being in good shape otherwise, I think
choosing to do the repair is reasonable. This would be my first plastic
flange replacement job.

Looking for advice. In this particular case, most of the dampers have fallen
to the bottom of the piano. There will be no definitive way to know which
damper belongs to exactly which note. The damper felt is in good condtion -
the few dampers that work quiet the strings nicely and do not buzz.

I suspect that after new flanges are installed on the levers and the lever
assemblies installed on the rail, there will be a pretty fair bit of wire
bending to be done because of the new flanges and levers being in new
positions. I am further thinking that even though the damper felt is still
"good", it is also 60 + years old and only if one is very lucky will any of
the dampers dampen the strings very well. So I'm thinking that some wire
bending (much less than if the old damper felt were to be used) and new
damper felt is in order.

Or am I missing some quick & efficient way to use the original damper felt
successfully and not spend a day bending damper wires?

Thanks!!!

Terry Farrell=