hammer realignment

[Clyde Hollinger]

Jay Mercier wrote:
> 
> Is there any trick of the trade when realigning hammers after a hammer
> shank breaks?  I recently fixed a broken hammer shank, eyeballed the
> alignment, glued the two parts back together and what do you know, the
> hammer was only hitting the left two unisons instead of all three.  A
> blow to my self-esteem.  Also, the piano had brass flanges.
> 
> Is this a hit and miss situation?

My response assumes a vertical piano with round shanks.  It sounds like
you reused the old hammer shank.  For situations where I choose to do
this, I keep on hand a supply of plastic soda straws in different sizes
(yes, they're used, from when I buy softdrinks, and different stores DO
have different sizes!).  You don't even have to remove the hammer butt
from the piano; just slip a piece of straw over the broken shank, glue
at the break on the hammer part and push them together until they're
snug.  I've never had hammer alignment problems using this method.

When I need to replace the broken shank with a new one, I don't glue
things together until I am satisfied with the dry fit.  It's not nearly
as messy to make adjustments if necessary.

Regards,
Clyde Hollinger