Plugging and redrilling an action rail

[Mike Spalding]

John,

I'm trying to picture the situation, but need more info.  How's the 
butt-to-jack alignment?  If it's good now, what will you do after moving 
the butts over?  How about action height or shank length?  
Coincidentally, your hammer position error tapers to zero over the same 
range that string angle tapers to zero.  Coincidence, or clue?  Got a photo?

Mike



John Delacour wrote:
>
> I'm preparing in my mind a job that needs to be done and which I 
> haven't done before.
>
> The problem is with an otherwise quite nice overstrung by Wilhelm 
> Spaethe of Gera that will sound good and look good and is therefore 
> worth restoring and will fetch a good price.
>
> How the mistake was originally made I can't imagine, but the position 
> of the hammer flange screw on the first plain steel note is about 10mm 
> to the left of where is should be and the error reduces gradually 
> until about note 55, when things are just about right.
>
> The original finisher got over this difficulty by first sticking the 
> shanks in the butts at a considerable angle and then twisting the 
> hammer-head to negate the remaining error.  I have bored out the butts 
> and got a good set of Wurzen AA hammers from Abel, and shanks, and 
> they will sound very good.  I now have the option of either getting a 
> new rail bored correctly from Renner, but almost certainly with the 
> wrong flange profile and all sorts of other problems, or plugging and 
> redrilling the existing rail where it is unacceptable. As to the keys, 
> I'll work out that problem before diving in.
>
> There will be no problem redrilling at the tenor end because the new 
> holes will not interfere with the old ones, but for 15 or 20 notes -- 
> say 50 holes -- I shall need to be drilling close to or overlapping 
> the old plugged hole.  I've thought of leather and epoxy for plugging 
> the holes, but I'd be interested to hear other ideas from people who 
> have done the job before.  Is there some magic plugging solution that 
> will produce a durable result and be as good as it should have been 
> when new?
>
> JD
>
>
>
>