Yamaha flanges

[Barbara E. Richmond]

<Under duress, in once instance I gently pressed all the pins back
< through the opposite side of the flange, then tightened the butt
< plate screws. I did this *knowing* that the pin no longer had a
<point on the end. Regardless of any additional damage *I* may
<have caused, this was a cost-effective, expedient fix under the
<circumstances -- just to make the piano work. The side effects,
<among many other things, was the accelerated wear to the (only)
<bushing being used, compared to the opposite side's bushing now
<being too tight.

snip

<My question then becomes, is there a cost-effective or, at least
<efficient method of dealing with this situation? Is retrofitting
<with new butts (without plates) and flanges in order? What about
<welding, pin dope, c/a glue... just kidding! I'm simply in pursuit
<of the most realistic method of coping.
<
<  Thanks for your thoughts
<
<  Jim Harvey, RPT

Jim,

What????  You actually tightened those butt plate screws?  I thought *I* was
the only piano technician who did that!  At least that's what it seemed like
when I was back home in Bloomington, IL.

When I first started at IWU, I had 30-35 P-2's (mostly in practice rooms and
20+ years old)--all with loose screws, plates, parts wobbling all over the
place.  Repinning all the flanges was out of the question even though in the
ideal world it would have been preferable.  On these pianos, I moved the
pins back, tightened all the action screws, shaped and softened the hammers,
spaced them (using the Japanese electric shank bending pliers sold by
Pianotek,they're great!), touched each jack flange with high viscosity ca
glue and then replaced the worst flanges that didn't make it through the
torture.  (Doing this to each piano still took plenty of time, but when the
students came at the start of the semester I over heard one say, "I *think*
they got different pianos.")  Then as I serviced the pianos throughout the
year, I would repin flanges if needed.  But, to tell the truth, not too many
fell by the wayside.  Fortunately, I was in the position that I would have
ready access to the instruments.  But, out in the real world where time and
money are limited, one has to make choices and I think you did the best
thing possible under the circumstances.

Barbara Richmond, RPT      brichmon@e-tex.com
singing the "used to be a university technician, but ain't no more" blues in
Palestine, Texas
(A small town in the Bible Belt where you can fill your car up at the
Christian gas station, an eye doctor advertises that he will help you see
physically and spiritually, and you can get something to eat at the
Christian hamburger stand. ---Could I make this up?)