brass flanges

[Farrell]

To the best of my knowledge, the main beef with brass rails/flanges is that they tend to get brittle and break. Perhaps someone may argue that wooden flanges have the advantage of allowing a small amount of adjustment in the mounting position for hammer spacing. If yours has no broken flanges, then you've got a tough decision - how long will the brass last & how long do you expect the piano to last?

I've used Bill Surlock's method of conversion to wooden flanges utilizing a thin brass rod. I wasn't overly happy with the results (the flanges are kinda hanging on by a thread it seems) - results may vary with exact wooden flange rail configuration. Next time I do a conversion, I will consider routing out a little wedge from the rail and epoxy in a new piece of properly shaped maple - that way I'll have a better/more stable surface to mount the flanges on.

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe And Penny Goss" <imatunr@srvinet.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 9:28 PM
Subject: Re: brass flanges


Hi Jack,
Is this the Chickering that has a silk cord tied into a brass plate? The cord then catching the hammer return spring?
If it is, All the damper assemblies have to be installed after the cords are hooked up.
Joe Goss
imatunr@srvinet.com
www.mothergoosetools.com
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jack Houweling 
  To: pianotech@ptg.org 
  Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 6:54 PM
  Subject: brass flanges


  Hello

    I am rebuilding a chickering upright. This one has the brass flanges. They all work good. My question is should the brass flanges be changed to wood? If so why?  Is the reason for changing the flanges because they break or is there something more?

  Jack Houweling