hammer butt leather

[Gerald Cousins]

David,
I did many of these in NY for Baldwin. Parts provided at that time by Baldwin if they were still within the 10 yr warranty period.
They provided a quantity of leather pre cut with a bottle of CA (thin) glue. I provided the services.
If memory serves there were 2 types of materials used which both had the same repair. One was the "pleather" the other was a black material which really left an ugly residue in the action. I don't recall the names of either though I'm certain others on the list will remind me.


Procedure we followed was:
1. Remove butt from rail.  Actually all 88 (numbered of course)
2. With a sharp blade (we dedicated a tool specifically for this project thin/sturdy blade) Starting from the catcher dowel, pull/pry/shave/dig (choose your own verb) up the glued edge from the wood of the butt. Effectively poppint it loose.Then slide the blade down into the notch where it again was glued to the butt at the flange area. Rock the blade left & right breaking the glue bead. Go to the other edge of the notch and again cut into the glue bead. Then pull the "leather" out.
3. If necessary clean out the slot of any remaining material. (used a fine hack saw blade)
4. With a super thin tip (was provided with the CA glue) run a bead in the slot
5. Insert the replacement leather into the slot.  Waiting a few seconds for the CA to grab. 
6. Run a bead of glue on the cleaned wood at the catcher dowel. Attach the leather to the butt. Being sure to have it taught rather than loose
7. Remove catcher "leather" Clean with fine sandpaper paddle and attach new leather with CA
8. Go to next piece.
9. Reattach butts to action, regulate, etc.etc.etc.

Total time was a couple of hours.(warranty work) Reimbursement was for the installation of the new materials only and not for any regulation which the customer was to pay.

Additional Comments  In many cases we actually replaced the entire set of butts and rehung the entire hammer set. We found this to be about the same overall time and a lot less hassle with consistency ( or lack thereof) in leather regluing. Tehre always was teh concern of a small dot of glue coming into the jack area and causing a click upon reset. It always was after the customer had been playing the piano and analysing the noises. 
In both cases (re glue and new) we had similar time needed to travel, regulate, burn shanks etc and actually felt the customer received a better resolve in replacing the parts. There also was a technique of soaking the catcher in a liquid to break the glue but I never tried it.
The procedure is most likely in the archives in more detail than I have porvided but hopefully this will help.
Gerry Cousins, RPT 

> Subject: hammer butt leather
> Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:04:20 -0400
> 
> List,
> 
>
I need to replace the hammer butt "leather" on a Baldwin studio. The
existing leather has become as hard as the wood it's attached to and is
causing a click. 
> 
> Would someone be able to tell me the good procedure for doing this? 
> 
> Thanks in advance for you help.
> 
> David Weiss
> 
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