[pianotech] Rear Toe Casters

[David Boyce]

Those rear toe caster sets I fitted today are from Heckschers.  They did 
cut down the plate size some years ago - it used to be substantially 
larger. Richard, you reckon they also do an even smaller plate size?  
Not sure about that.  I think there must have been complaints, when 
people were replacing worn-out or damaged castors on 1970s Marshall & 
Rose and Knight school pianos (there seems to have been a buying spree 
in the '70s!) that the old plate asize was just too wide for those 
pianos. So they cut it down so that it fits them.  But modern pianos are 
narrower still.

Wim, yes, your query is apposite.  Nonetheless, it's nice to have a 
reasonable expanse of wood (prefeferably decent hardwood too) to work 
with, as they did in older pianos.

Richard, why not just drill new holes, as I did? Does it really matter 
if the plate protrudes a little beyond the edges of the toebock?  It 
might be regarded in fact as a bit of extra protection for institutional 
pianos, which do get knocked around the edges.

Best regards,

David.
> Yes, toes tend to be getting narrower.  Heckschers have some narrow 
> plate front castors but I can't remember the exact measurement.  I 
> have some Essex pianos (narrower than Yamahas!) in dance studios which 
> ought to have safety castors on them but I keep delaying because I 
> know I will have to have them modified because of the very narrow 
> toes.   I am hoping a friendly engineering shop might cut some down 
> for me.
> Richard

> Why do they make such wide caster plates?
> Wim

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