<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> <title></title> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> I've been doing a lot of these recently. I take the opportunity to renew all the felt & leather on the trapwork, as well as the pedals and lyre itself. I also replace the old rods with new adjustable one available from Pianotek or Steinway, and replace the old brass or wooden pitman with the new style wooden dowel capped on both ends with felt punchings. Instead of drilling flat bottomed holes for the pitman in the sustain trap lever and damper tray though, I use 1" x 1" blocks of shoe leather with a 5/8" hole drilled through, and glue one of these to the lever and another to the tray. This allows me to dry fit the new pitman and ensure proper alignment and clearance through the keybed hole. I find that gluing the rough unfinished side of the shoe leather means that the pedal is ready to use within a few minutes. A spring clamp is used to clamp the leather block on the lever, and I carry some small pieces of wooden blocking and shims to use on top of the keybed under the damper tray to clamp the upper leather block in place. If  I'm replacing one of the old 5/8" wooden pitmans it's not necessary to enlarge the hole through the keybed. In fact, I prefer to leave the old bushing cloth in the hole as this will retain the new pitman in place if I need to remove the lever for any reason. My new pitman is a 3/8" dowel and so doesn't contact the sides of the hole in normal usage. When replacing the brass pitmans it is necessary to remove the keybed bushing and ensure that the hole is at least 5/8". - Mark Dierauf David Ilvedson wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:%3C010BBCF4030117360636002004@David%3E" type="cite"> <title>steinway pedal lyre rebuild</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; "> <style>  </style> I'm repairing a Steinway lyre.   The bottom box came loose, so I'm renewing everything while I'm at it... I removed the hardwood wedges going into the post dowels that go into the bottom box and opened the slot.  I've noticed the post dowels don't have any glue on residue on them...were they not suppose to be glued in but held mechanically with the wedges?   Would roughing them up, scoring be advised?  I've cleaned it up enough to get the parts together for a dry fit.   I'm making new pads for the back of the pedals with front rail punchings and leather and gluing with a bottle cap...got a better way?   David Ilvedson, RPT Pacifica, CA 94044 </blockquote> </body> </html>