In the Shop responses to this question, condensed:
On 7/15/2012 4:46 PM, Paul Dempsey wrote:
> Saturday I started to install the new set of agraffes and discovered
> that I either ordered the wrong size or they sent the wrong size.
> School will be beginning again in about 6 weeks and I can't chance
> waiting for half of that waiting to get the right parts, so I made
> the decision to clean up the old set and re-install.
There's your problem. If two broke getting them out, the set is trash.
More breaking during and after installation just proved that.
You've gotten good advice here, and you're out of options now. Measure
the stud diameter of the existing set and order replacements from
Pianotek (who can ship them to you on a reasonable schedule and they'll
be of good quality), buying four or five extra of monochord, bichord,
and trichords. Take off the strings, retap the threads to clean them up,
and lubricate them. Quickly spin in agraffes, trying each in a different
hole until it snugs up at around 45 degrees from aligned. That's what
the extra agraffes are for. You'll find you can fill the set without
modifying or shimming any. Then align everything, and restring.
Next time: NEVER reuse the original Steinway agraffes.
Ron N
I worked on a 1960s S&S in which the agraffe holes in the plate were not threaded deep enough. Look at the tips of the old agraffes. The threads would be mashed flat from being forced into the holes. If this is so, you must tap the threads deeper before putting in new agaffes.
Do as Ron said. New agraffes are a must.
And as Bill Monroe said, use the tap to clean the holes before installing new agraffes, always.
Ed S
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Ed Sutton
Editor
Piano Technicians Journal
ed440@me.com 704-536-7926
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-15-2012 17:46
From: Paul Dempsey
Subject: Breaking agraffes
This message has been cross posted to the following Discussions: In the Shop and CAUT .
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I'm finding myself hip deep in a swamp full of alligators and am looking for some insight and advice.
I am overhauling one of the schools S&S M's(1967). New pinblock,re-cut and re-pinned bridges, repaired soundboard, blah, blah.
On this particular piano I planned to replace the agraffes, new set ordered from Steinway.
Taking the old ones out was no problem other than breaking 2, but I have dealt with this a jillion times, so no biggie.
Saturday I started to install the new set of agraffes and discovered that I either ordered the wrong size or they sent the wrong size. School will be beginning again in about 6 weeks and I can't chance waiting for half of that waiting to get the right parts, so I made the decision to clean up the old set and re-install.
But, to my horror and amazement, about a dozen or so broke as I was putting them back in. Most broke under light hand pressure. No forcing or over-torque-ing. Nothing is crossthreaded.
After fixing the mess, I began stringing and not far along another strung agraffe popped.
I have encountered broken agraffes lots of times and have repaired using both new replacements and used, but have never had a run of breaking ones such as this..
Anyone care to venture a guess as to what the heck is happening here?
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Paul E. Dempsey, RPT
Piano Technician Senior
Marshall University
Music Department
1 John Marshall Dr.
Huntington, WV 25701
(304) 617-1149
dempsey@marshall.edu
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