Butt talk

[Ron Nossaman]

Alan Crane showed us a neat trick at a Guild meeting a few years back. I
don't know if it was his own idea, or if he stole it from someone else. In
any case, I stole it from him. It works like this.

Taking butt in hand (let's hear it for visual aids), trim the shank off
flush with the butt. Drill a small (1/8" or so) hole down the center of the
shank to the bottom. Drive a 1 1/2" drywall screw into the hole, heat the
screw with a propane torch (Bic it in a home service situation), and pull
the shank out with your regular shank puller using the butt and screw head
instead of the usual shank clamp as leverage points. The screw takes the
heat to the bottom of the hole, heating the shank, therefore the glue, clear
through, and the shank slides out cleanly and easily. Leaves a clean hole
for the replacement. This works with maple, birch, cedar, or any other
flavor shank you will find in a piano regardless of how soft the wood, or
how mis-directed the grain.

As for doing a whole set, I would think the butt leather would be old and
dead enough that you would be ahead replacing the butts as well and
eliminating the above procedure altogether. Time is money, and as long as
one or the other is going to be spent, new butts will make you look better
(nothing personal).


 Ron Nossaman