Lester fun

[Susan Kline]

At 11:14 PM 12/22/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Curiously, both Lesters had Dampp-Chaser dehumidifier bars installed, but
>no humidifier.  I specifically warned/asked both owners, "You don't plug this
>in, do you?" and they said that they didn't, but certainly it must have been
>used at some point, maybe by a previous owner.

<grin> Short ones, shiny instead of black, mounted on the action support?
If so, they were probably put in by the factory. You see, at that point no
one knew that the plastic elbows would turn yellow and break (it was too
soon for them to get fragile) but people already had found that the plastic
flanges would seize up very badly in damp weather.

I still remember how I found this out. When I was young and foolish, I
actually repinned a few plastic flanges and put them back in, instead of
replacing them with wooden ones. I also found out the hard way that "zapping"
them would leave them free until they were back in place and cool, and
then they would seize up again.

So, if you find an old type of damppchaser in a Lester, it might be prudent
to check for plastic flanges as well. Some of the earlier ones had the
plastic elbows but wooden flanges. It's easy to deal with them: new
snap-on elbows, and you have a decent, well-built spinet.

Susan Kline

P.S. By now, a damppchaser put in by the factory in the early 50's is
probably a fire waiting to happen. The cords get brittle, too.