<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Friends, Dale's response to Terry raises a question in my mind.  Are there *any* 90-year-old brass rails that can be considered trustworthy for even another 20-30 years, and even if no teeth have broken off so far?  Maybe, if they've been taken off and heat-treated.  Beyond that, I have questions. It seems to me that if Terry keeps the original brass rails, he runs the risk of doing all that other work, only to have a tooth break off six months later.  The piano then has to be returned to the shop for an undetermined amount of time to replace the brass rails, and the client is unhappy.  If that happens, it certainly will damage his reputation.  My vote is for replacement, one way or another. Regards, Clyde Hollinger, RPT Lititz, PA USA Erwinspiano@aol.com wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE>In a message dated 1/4/2003 6:44:21 PM Pacific Standard Time, mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com writes:   <blockquote TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Subj: Brass Action Rails Date: 1/4/2003 6:44:21 PM Pacific Standard Time From: <a href="mailto:mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com">mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com</a> Reply-to: <a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</a> To: <a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</a> Sent from the Internet         Terry          I wouldn't assumne that they're brittle. If it ain't broke don't fix it.</blockquote>          Yes I've gone wood a few times.   It's difficult to get a perfect match but with many good parts out there you could do some dry fit and check the tokiwa upright butts . Theyare very good. Also I used to get two sizes of imported Japanese butts from American but I don't know if they're still availablle. By the way my son and I used the tokiwa brass rail butts on an upright recently. Wow what nice parts. A perfect match dimensionally.         Regards Dale     <blockquote TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I am doing a complete rebuild of a 90 year old M&H upright. It is getting new board, new block, new action, new everything. It has brass action rails for the hammer butts. None have failed. I can only assume the brass is brittle, as I have seen so many of these brass rails fail. Is this a fair assumption? Assuming I want to do something with the brass rails, is there anywhere besides Schaff that duplicates? I'm looking for best quality. What about converting to wooden flanges? Anyone care to share their experience doing this? Any thoughts in general? Thanks. Terry Farrell</blockquote>  </blockquote> </html>