CAUT

  • 1.  Agraffe shims

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 09-25-2025 10:25

    Hi all. I am rebuilding a Mason B grand which has 7mm diameter agraffe threads. A colleague refinished the plate and removed the agraffes and returned them to me for polishing. He claims that there were no shims (and that they were kept in the correct order, which I now question). I have never known there to not be agraffe shims. 

    None of the agraffes line up perpendicular. Not one. So, the claim that there were no shims and/or the order was maintained at this point I disbelieve. Ok, done with my grousing. 

    I need to install shims, but the 7mm thread diameter is larger than what I can purchase from supply houses, which is 17/64 (.266"). 7mm imperial equivalent is .276". 

    Does anyone have suggestions of where I can source them? TIA.



    ------------------------------
    Dave Conte, RPT

    Piano Technician in Residence
    The University of Tennessee
    College of Music
    Knoxville TN
    (817) 307-5656
    Owner: Rocky Top Piano
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Agraffe shims

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 09-25-2025 13:12
    I have a local colleague who used to punch them out of aluminum soda cans. Thinner than the brass ones, which can be an advantage.
    Regards,
    Fred Sturm
    fssturm@comcast
    "The cure for boredom is curiosity, and there is no cure for curiosity." Dorothy Parker