Greetings from Southeast Missouri where the leaves are starting to change and there is a crisp fall chill to the air.

I have a customer with an old upright Kimball from the early 1900's with the brass flange rail, not only on the hammers but on the dampers too. She has a couple dampers that are not working because the brass clip has broken. I have the repair part to fix it, but cannot determine how to get my screwdriver onto the screw. When the damper is in place, the top of the screw is covered up by the damper. Am I missing something here?

There are special Kimball screwdrivers, but all you really need is a long screwdriver with a 1/8" tip.

By the way, none of the repair clips work very well with Kimballs, even the ones made for them. You might be better off cutting out the bad portion of the rail and replacing the lever with a standard one. If I were asked to restore a Kimball upright, I would probably replace the rails and install standard parts.

If it's a Kimball, the brass rail is horizontal instead of vertical and the brass plate that holds the damper lever centerpin also has the damper spring. The repair versions of these brass plates aren't very nice. You'd be better getting recycled parts, I think.

Because the rail is horizontal, and thus having the hammer butt plates, as well, sawing out a section would certainly be a challenge at best and impossible at worst.

Otherwise, you may be able to use a standard Kimball butt plate and jury-rig a spring somehow. . .

Thanks for the replies. I ordered the Kimball screwdriver today. I think I'll just borrow the top damper and move it to replace the broken one which is towards the center of the piano.