Vertical Damper Tool

[Ronald R Shiflet]

List,
	Several years ago while learning how to do vertical dampers, I
was getting really frustrated (I'm glad nobody else has went through
this).  I was working on getting the dampers to lift evenly from the
strings.  I had purchased the standard damper tool from a supply house
(the kind that has a head that looks like PAC MAN), put it in my handle
and was using it but it always seemed like that kind of tool had to be
worked from the side but it wasn't real efficient since there were other
damper heads to the side that always seemed to be in the way.  It seemed
to me that it would be much easier if there were a way to approach it
from the top.
	I purchased some more of these tools from the supply house to
play with during my experiments.  My wife took a jewelers saw and cut
the head off from this tool at the point where it connects to the shank.
 We then soldered the head to the shank at a 90 degree angle.  This means
that while the head is laying flat, the shank is going straight up and
the notch in the head is no longer sideways but is straight in line with
the shank.  We then had a tool that would access the wires from the top.
	This new tool doesn't work in all situations but it is useful in
most situations.  As for the soldering, soft solder isn't strong enough.
 You must use silver solder that you get from a welders supply (Wal Mart
is NOT a welders supply !!!).  It must be heated red hot and it uses a
special flux.  Perhaps Bill Spurlock can explain this solder if anyone
has any questions.  Some people call it brazing but it isn't those long
rods you typically see but rather comes in small rolls in fractional
sizes.  It is the same solder you use in a band instrument shop to
repair broken woodwind keys and it usually needs so much heat that a
propane torch isn't enough.  Any questions, let me know.

Originally it kind of looked like this (except the C faces down at 5
o'clock:)

----------------------------------------------C

Now it almost looks like this

____________________________     (side view)
                                                               0


Front view, o is the shank, c is the head.

OC

Clear as mud ???   Good !!!!

Ron Shiflet, RPT
Phoenix Chapter