But Claude is kind of skinny! LOL Avery Todd On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 1:33 PM, Michael Magness <IFixPianos at yahoo.com>wrote: > > > On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 9:18 AM, Joe And Penny Goss <imatunr at srvinet.com>wrote: > >> One other thing that will help is to take the time break the wood dowel >> free as you are putting the elbow on. >> Saves one from getting fustrated when regulating lost motion later. >> Joe Goss RPT >> Mother Goose Tools >> imatunr at srvinet.com >> www.mothergoosetools.com >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> *From:* Claude Harding <charding88 at comcast.net> >> *To:* toddpianoworks at att.net ; pianotech at ptg.org >> *Sent:* Thursday, February 05, 2009 8:45 AM >> *Subject:* Re: [pianotech] Elbow Replacement (quick question) >> >> Matthew, >> You have gotten a lot of good advice to your question. I'll go ahead >> and add my two cents worth. >> >> As has been mentioned, if you can duplicate the distance between the >> elbow's contact with the center pin on the wippen and the regulating button >> on the other end of the wire, you will save yourself quite a bit of time >> with the regulating after the installation. >> >> Even at my somewhat advanced age, I get on the floor and do this job in >> the home, using the Vagias snap-on elbows. >> >> 1. I put a sheet or towels down on the floor and inside the piano bottom >> to catch as much of the debris as possible. >> >> 2. I break off the old, brittle elbows with my needle-nose pliers. Most >> of the elbows will crush or shatter easily. If some part of the elbow >> doesn't break easily, I hold it with my pliers and tug gently while heating >> the elbow with my heat gun. It doesn't take but a few seconds before the >> rest of the elbow will melt enough to easily pull off the center pin. >> WARNING: Be careful to not damage the pin or break out the sides of >> the wippen. While you are crushing pieces of the elbow, the material can >> spread out and push against the sides of the wippen. While you are pulling >> or crushing the elbow pieces, work carefully and you will avoid trouble. >> >> 3. I take each elbow out in order and lay them on the floor beside me, in >> order. Then, like others have suggested, I clamp my vice grip pliers on the >> wire at the top of the old elbow, break off whatever remains of the old >> elbow, and screw on the new elbow until it butts up against the vice grips. >> This only take seconds, and the vice grips can make a nice handle to twirl >> of spin the wire into the new elbow. >> >> 4. Put each new elbow/wire assembly back on in the same order. This >> minimizes regulation at the end of the job. I work by sections, bass, >> tenor, treble. Finish one section and then go to the next. >> WARNING: When snapping the new elbow onto the center pin, reach >> behind the wippen and support it with a finger of the other hand against the >> pressure of the elbow snapping on. This is especially important if the >> wippen flanges might be plastic of the same vintage (Unless you are ready to >> sell that job, too.) >> >> 5. When all the elbows have been replaced, regulate the jack position >> under the butts by adjusting the button on the end of the sticker wire. >> Check other regulation items, then tune or collect your check for this job. >> >> 6. BE SURE to clean up after yourself when this job is done. Bring in >> your vacuum, and clean out the inside of the piano, AND the floor outside >> the piano. >> >> As someone mentioned, this job is coming up less frequently than in the >> past. Eventually, all these old plastic elbows will get replaced or the >> pianos with them will get tossed. >> This job takes me about two to two and a half hours. You may be >> quicker than I am because you are young and limber. >> >> Good luck. >> Hope to see you at the next chapter meeting. >> >> Claude Harding >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] *On >> Behalf Of *Matthew Todd >> *Sent:* Wednesday, February 04, 2009 5:52 PM >> *To:* pianotech at ptg.org >> *Subject:* [pianotech] Elbow Replacement (quick question) >> >> When screwing on the new elbows, do we normally screw till the elbow >> just covers the threads on the lifter wire, or do we screw until the lifter >> wire is all the way down in the hole? >> >> OR, does it not matter? >> >> ***TODD PIANO WORKS* >> Matthew Todd, Piano Technician >> (979) 248-9578 >> http://www.toddpianoworks.com >> >> > Hi Matthew, > > I'm old school and use the vice grip at the top of the old elbow as a > "stop" for the new elbow. Some old elbows will crumble off, the last set I > did, on a Gulbranson spinet, were particularly gooey, except at the bend > where they broke rather easily. I had to turn almost all of them off and cut > and cajole nearly all of them out of the whippen opening. > > Being 6"4" and try as I might not being able to get my weight below 285, I > have never considered Claude's method of replacing them en masse, in the > piano. I have done the odd one or two in the piano, here and there but I > much prefer to do this job on my bench, especially that last one!! > > Mike > > -- > I intend to live forever. So far, so good. > Steven Wright > > > Michael Magness > Magness Piano Service > 608-786-4404 > www.IFixPianos.com <http://www.ifixpianos.com/> > email mike at ifixpianos.com > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090206/6b301e05/attachment.html>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC