Gerald Posey wrote: > All the rollers on my hammers are flattened and/or grooved. Is this a > serious problem? Is there a fix besides replacement? This is my own piano > (Heintzman Baby Grand) that I'm working on as a hobby. > Thanks, > Gerald Hello Gerald. Where are you from since you use the term "rollers" ? As to your question. Worn and flattened rollers are certainly a detriment to your instruments performance. That being said they do have a habit of getting that way. Depending on just how worn out they are you can run some rather thick yarn underneath the leather to get them nice and round again. This is a quick and easy proceedure, but you need to make sure and shear off the ends of the yarn cleanly so that none sticks out the sides of the rollers. If the rollers are also very deeply grooved however you should probably replace them. You can either pop out the old ones by pinching the base of each on both sides with a small wire cutter or some such tool, or buy new shanks. New shanks however really means new hammers as well, and perhaps a whole lot of other concerns.... key weighting for one. So you have to decide how deep to go. If you pop out the old ones and glue replacement rollers in, make very sure you take the time to get the core of the roller 90 degrees to the shanks. Make sure you do this consistantly and neatly, and make sure you get the nap of the rollers leather all in the same direction. (some like it, some like it out...but do it the same way whatever you prefer) What kind of condition is your instrument in general ? RicB -- Richard Brekne RPT, N.P.T.F. Bergen, Norway mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no http://home.broadpark.no/~rbrekne/ricmain.html
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