1890s Everett damper flanges

[David Trasoff]

This piano is a ~1895 Everett grand, about 6';  old, heavy woodwork.  
Customer bought the piano from an antique dealer - seems to have been  
partially rebuilt w/ new strings, pins, hammers. But the dampers  
didn't work - the damper lift flanges were mostly frozen up, very  
slow. Why didn't they take care of that as well, I wondered as I took  
the job.

Now I have a better idea of why. After disassembling the damper lift  
tray and mechanism, a major jigsaw puzzle already, I now see the  
problem. The damper flanges are not screwed to the damper rail - they  
are hot-glued in place, without screws, and with a second strip of  
wood on top of the flange, also glued in place. I can post pictures  
if the description is not clear. Oh, and while the flanges in the  
tenor section are at 90 degrees to the rail, the bass and treble  
sections are angled. There's no way I can see to get at the frozen  
flanges without breaking apart this nice glued-up arrangement, and in  
the process losing all idea of the precise placement and angle of the  
flanges on the rail.

Does anyone have experience dealing with this type of damper rail  
arrangement? The flanges are badly frozen up -  I got one off and  
it's full of verdigris and corrosion. They have to be re-pinned. How  
do I get to the flanges, get them off and back on the rail, and avoid  
creating a nightmare of misaligned flanges? One thought is to drill  
guide holes through that top strip of wood and through the flange  
into the rail, so that I can at least locate the flange, and then  
essentially convert them to screwed in flanges when I'm done re- 
pinning. That still leaves reproducing the angle...

Suggestions?

David Trasoff


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David Trasoff
Professional Piano Service
4130 Verdugo View Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90065
Tel: 323-255-7783
Fax: 323-313-1519
david at professionalpianoservice.com





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