I have an old upright with a few "opportunities". On one note the hammer wobbles excessivly. Upon close inspection I have determined the pin in the hammer butt is loose. There appears to be a bushing or something between the pin and the hammer butt that is worn out. Is there an easy way to fix this? On a positive(?) note.....that particular note has no grooves on the hammer......the other hammers have grooves so deep, U.S. Special Forces have entered my piano looking for Bin Laden Fixing the grooves in my hammers is a later "opportunity" after my keytops. I think the hammers have fossilized.

Sorry to inform you but there's no easy way out on this. The hammer butt has to be taken out of the action and the flange repinned or perhaps even rebushed.

Mark Mandell www.pianosource.com

I have no problem getting the hammerbutt out of the action, anyway to rebush it?

It's a rather involved procedure that I wouldn't want to get into here and you must have the proper tool anyway to do it right.
So I'd recommend contacting a tech in your area to do it unless one of the other techs who logs on here cares to explain it to you.

Mark

Thanks Mark, I guess since there is only one hammer giving me problems, I'll farm it out to a pro, since I don't think I'll need a special tool more than once,(knock on wood).

Hi,

I have one hammer on an upright that has more than usual sideways play. I showed it to the piano tuner whwn he was here and he said the action was on a brass rail and he didn't want to deal with it.
It is functioning so I let good enough be until I had could take care of it properly.

Upon closer inspection between the parts I can see a pin (center pin?) sticking out almost touching the adjacent part. Could this pin have come out that far? Is that the cause of the movement.

Can this part be repaired without taking the whole action out.

If someone could give me advice and some direction on this and it's repair I'd appreciate it.

Also should or can the butt skin above the jack be lubricated with graphite?


Thanks

Littlebit--

The whole action has to be taken out to fix that one note. Sorry but that's the way they were designed. Just shoving the pin back into the flange will NOT adequately correct the problem. It needs to be repinned.

Mark Mandell www.pianosource.com

I'll just wait and see how the piano holds a tune. Perhaps in the future if she still holds up to my expectations and I still love the sound I'll get that taken care of and rebuild the action.

Thanks

No graphite EVER in the action. It gets gummy with time and also is dirty.......Sam

I read that somwhere they used a graphite stick. I was just wondering.

Thanks for the warning. Luckily my action is in quite good shape. The wood and felts are relatively good and movement is fine.
My hammers and dampers are also ok. I've seen much worse in used pianos so I am thankful for that. She still has life in her.

Still I try to make things better if I can.

Thanks