[CAUT] sostenuto tap springs

[Ron Poire]

Hello Paul and everyone,

You should be able to remove the individual damper levers affected by the broken or mangled springs.  I don't have any experience replacing these springs, as none have broken in all my ten years at the University of Minnesota.
I have accidentally dislodged a spring now and then, but I must have been lucky.  I am willing to bet, the springs are attached with flange cord or pinned into the lever.

Remove the individual lever and scope out the situation.  
The process of replacing the tab spring should be very similar to replacing the spring in the repetition. 
In that case, the spring was held in by a nylon fastener, which looked much like a centerpin.

regards,

Ron Poire 

laid off from the U of M.  


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paul T Williams 
  To: caut at ptg.org 
  Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 11:22 AM
  Subject: [CAUT] sostenuto tap springs



  Hi All, 

  One of our Steinway D's had a problem this past Saturday (my only day off until the end of the semester!!)  Some of the middle dampers were not engaging when the sos pedal was depressed.  I checked the rod and it was in perfect position.  After putting the action on a table, I noticed a problem; the damper lever sos tabs were in a down position, then noticed that the springs had "slipped" off the damper wire flange... A very strange thing I had not seen before.  I was able to use a string hook and grab them from behind the flange and move them back to the front.  A couple of them accidently broke (or bent beyond use) so the tabs would not spring up. Fortunately for both me and the pianist, they were two notes she was not going to use in her piece!!! My heart rate fell dramatically upon this good news :>) 

  Is there an easy fix to get new springs in them, or am I stuck with pulling the damper action out and replacing the lever systems on the broken ones? Very time consuming for 2 springs :>(   I also noticed during this trauma that some of the tabs were a bit sluggish on their return..  How does one strengthen the springs, or is this possible? They're made of such thin wire, I would be afraid of breaking more... 

  Looking forward to Christmas Break...(or should I say winter break, holiday break, mental break.....?) 

  Thanks 

  Paul T. Williams RPT 
  UNL
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