My First Agraffe Repair - Done

[Kent Swafford]

There's little choice but to ream if you have a single agraffe to put 
into a single hole and it doesn't fit. However, there is a better way. 
Have a handful of agraffes available. If the first one doesn't fit, 
take it out and try another, and another until one fits. Each hole will 
take only a few tries to find one that fits,  and taking advantage of 
the natural variation in the fit of the parts is much easier than 
reaming.

Kent


On Mar 3, 2005, at 4:24 PM, Terry wrote:

> Glad to hear things worked out for you. Pianotek (I think) sells a 
> handy
> little reamer that is specifically designed to evenly shave off brass 
> from
> the bottom of the main body of the agraffe. It works well.
>
> Terry Farrell
>
>> That 1927 Steinway agraffe repair came off with hardly a hitch.  The 
>> new
>> agraffe from Schaff had that conical undercut.  Even so, I could not 
>> turn
>> it far enough after first contact for proper alignment.  And a 10-mil 
>> shim
>> washer produced about the same misalignment, only a half-turn earlier.
>> Instead what I did was this.  I wrapped the threads with a bit of 
>> paper to
>> protect them and then very lightly stroked the seating surface of the
>> agraffe with a fine-toothed machinist’s file.  I rotated the agraffe 
>> so as
>> to take off material evenly around the seat.  The first try was 
>> perfect.
>> It delayed first contact by about 90 degrees, which made proper 
>> alignment
>> reachable with a very snug fit.
>>
>> And yes, Joe, I did loose one becket, but the old strings went in and 
>> are
>> up to pitch.  I think it helped that I never completely straightened 
>> out
>> the wire ends when I removed the strings.  I enlarged the coils just
>> enough to allow the wire to slip out of the agraffe hole.  You can 
>> twist a
>> surprisingly small coil through an agraffe if you’re careful.
>>
>> Robert Scott
>> Ypsilanti, Michigan
>
>
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