Bill,
I am very interested in this action. I have only seen it in patent drawings. Does it have wooden or wire jack tenders? It would be great to see more pictures.
I only managed to show it to Gene Roe, but I have a fully restored 1890 Brown action ready to go back into that 105B whose soundboard was getting thumped when you and the NH chapter came for a visit. I think that the one I restored is amongst the last and represents the final form. Yours must be amongst the first. I'm guessing that it comes from a Chickering?
About the vellum hinges:
As a martyr-level "originalist", I have to agree with Jurgen. The unnecessary interpolation of crude modern materials into a piano of this age, when a proper replacement is readily available, does an injustice to the instrument; adhesives included.
I have only had one experience working with vellum hinges, and that was in a Bluthner damper action from 1872. I was daunted at first, but it soon became clear that the material was actually easy to work with. For all the fancy qualities of vellum and its exotic sources, it is, in the end, a bit of rawhide. Like a dog's chew toy, the vellum is firm when dry, but let it get wet, an it turns back into a soft, stretchy bit of skin. For this reason I would not try to cut the vellum out with a jeweler's saw. The wood will be softer than the glue-hardened vellum, and the saw will wander and destroy your kerf. The better, but slower, way is to just wet the edge of the exposed vellum. It will resist absorption at first, but everything involved likes water and the vellum will start wicking. I would not dip the parts, just keep wetting the edge of the vellum. It will take a little time, but you will be able to eventually grab a corner and pull the vellum from the kerf in one piece. This leaves a beautiful straight slot; and so the action geometry will be unaffected.
On the rail, I would do the same thing, but work my way in from the end. The last piece of vellum I would not wet past its midpoint. Even if that one takes extra long, it is crucial that the vellum for the fourth note stay absolutely dry, or you will be replacing that one too.
Be well,
Craig
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[Craig] [Hair]
[Hampshire Piano]
[Conservative Restorations]
[Chesterfield] [MA]
[413-296-4205]
[
hampshirepiano@gmail.com]
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-07-2018 10:18
From: William Ballard
Subject: Parchment Hinges
I was called in to look at this 1830's Brown action, brought into a cabinet maker's shop for case refinishing. The boss had successfully extracted the action and covered it with a sheet on a separate workbench, but person next removing the sheet snagged these hammers in the process.
They want me to do the repair. They're certain they can clean out the parchment in the shank with a jeweler's saw. It looks to me that I'll have to splice on a section of parchment to replace that remaining under the wood cover on the rain and I can do an individual strip for each shank (saving me the trouble of assembling the three shanks on a single piece of parchment, "old school").
Anyone have experience with parchment hinges?
Any time-honored procedure (or other wisdom)?
Where do I get the genuine parchment?
TIA
Bill Ballard
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William Ballard RPT
WBPS
Saxtons River VT
802-869-9107
"Our lives contain a thousand springs
and dies if one be gone
Strange that a harp of a thousand strings
should keep in tune so long."
...........Dr. Watts, "The Continental Harmony,1774
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