Hamilton exploding hammers

[Regi Hedahl]

I went to tune this Hamilton upright this morning and this is what I found. The church had gotten this piano 2 years ago and when I serviced it 2 years ago, the hammers were fine. But this church does not use heat or AC except on Sunday. This is how much degradation that has occurred from just 2 years of time in Texas high heat and humidity. Unfortunately, the church does not have money to install a new set of hammers so I told them to start looking for another piano.

Regi

[Stephen Grattan]

Hi Regi,

Unfortunately, this was a common problem among those pianos.  I have had three of them like that. It had nothing to do with heat or humidity, just poorly made hammers in my opinion.  You can reglue them and make it playable until theu can afford new hammers.  A pain to do, but doable.

 

Steve Grattan

---

From: Regi Hedahl <piano...@gmail.com>
To: pianotech <pian...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2018 2:46 PM
Subject: [pianotech] Hamilton exploding hammers

[Jon Page]

Glue the loose side and the other side will probably pop off. If it was made between 1974-1984, it has Corfam on the butts and catchers; then the piano is junk unless they want to spend a couple grand on it to bring it up to speed...for the next thing to fail.

[Joseph Garrett]

Regi,
Easily fixed with the proper clamps.
Best,
Joe


Captain of the Tool Police
Squares R I
gpianoworks.com

[Joseph Garrett]

I have a set of home made clamps for this malady. No picture available, sorry. However Rockler Woodworking & Hardware has what is known as "Bandy Clamps" that will get the job done. They come in different sizes too. Use Franklin Titebond III.
Best,
Joe

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Grattan
Sent: Mar 26, 2018 12:06 PM
To: "pian...@googlegroups.com"
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Hamilton exploding hammers

Hi Regi,

Unfortunately, this was a common problem among those pianos.  I have had three of them like that. It had nothing to do with heat or humidity, just poorly made hammers in my opinion.  You can reglue them and make it playable until theu can afford new hammers.  A pain to do, but doable.

 

Steve Grattan

---

From: Regi Hedahl <piano...@gmail.com>
To: pianotech <pian...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, March 26, 2018 2:46 PM

Subject: [pianotech] Hamilton exploding hammers

I went to tune this Hamilton upright this morning and this is what I found.  The church had gotten this piano 2 years ago and when I serviced it 2 years ago, the hammers were fine.  But this church does not use heat or AC except on Sunday.  This is how much degradation that has occurred from just 2 years of time in Texas high heat and humidity.  Unfortunately, the church does not have money to install a new set of hammers so I told them to start looking for another piano. 

Regi

[Joseph Garrett]

Hopefully, they will enlist your services to find a decent piano and then have you install a Dampp-Chaser Dehumidifier and Humidistat. Sigh! It's always the poor churches that seem to have these problems.
Best,
Joe

Captain of the Tool Police
Squares R I
gpianoworks.com

-----Original Message-----
>From: Regi Hedahl <piano...@gmail.com>
>Sent: Mar 26, 2018 11:46 AM
>To: pianotech <pian...@googlegroups.com>

[Terry Farrell]

OR, someone from the congregation who is talented with arts & crafts, with a few minutes of instruction, can sit down with a bottle of thick CA and some kicker and glue the suckers back on. I’ve had customers do it and it worked out fine. Some are neater than others, but they made it work. If they don’t want to otherwise replace it, it is an option.

Terry Farrell

> On Mar 26, 2018, at 2:46 PM, Regi Hedahl <piano...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I went to tune this Hamilton upright this morning and this is what I found. The church had gotten this piano 2 years ago and when I serviced it 2 years ago, the hammers were fine. But this church does not use heat or AC except on Sunday. This is how much degradation that has occurred from just 2 years of time in Texas high heat and humidity. Unfortunately, the church does not have money to install a new set of hammers so I told them to start looking for another piano.
>

> Regi <tmp-cam-1415568282.jpg><tmp-cam-348476759.jpg><tmp-cam-1890304451.jpg>

[Randy Mangus]

I have carved out a concave face on the jaws of a Jorgensen Hand screw clamp with the wooden jaws using a drum sander. Then I clamp the felt back down to the molding and put in thin CA on the low shoulders of the hammers from the side. Give it a few minutes to wick in Then spray it with kicker.
Randy Mangus, RPT

Sent from my iPhone

[David Boyce]

You can use CA glue with small-size electrical cable ties. The cable
ties are very quick to use, bite into the hammer felt and don't slip
off.  They can be positioned so as not to interfere with adjacent
hammers.  They can be left on permanently, or removed next time around,
with the CA glue having thoroughly cured.  It ain't elegant, but its
functional, for a piano that is otherwise not worth the expense of a
time-consuming method.  Clear ones would be better than the black ones
shown in the pics.

Best regards,

David B.

[Larry Fisher RPT]

David, those are an awesome idea!!!  That beats the old method of wrapping with sewing thread  .......  and lots faster  ....  I'd say about a tenth of the time.  I'm going to add those to my parts collection in the car.

Lar

[Terry Farrell]

FWIW, I have found that using thick CA on one surface (either the hammer felt or the hammer moulding, whichever is more accessible - but usually placing CA on the felt if possible) and a shot of kicker on the other (sometimes hard to get in there, so I spray some on an extra piece of felt and rub that onto the hammer moulding) and then pressing (clamping) the felt to the moulding for just a few seconds bonds the felt to the moulding without the use of any physical clamps. Just easier and quicker - no muss, no fuss.

Nothing wrong with using some sort of clamp of course, just that I have found clamping beyond temporary finger pressure to be unnecessary.

Terry Farrell

[John Formsma]

Some weeks ago, I had the thought of trying zip ties for this, but haven't tried it yet. Glad to know it works well.

I'd agree with those who say that this is something that happens to some Hamiltons because of bad glue. It seems to happen without regard to humidity swings.

John Formsma, RPT

New Albany, MS

[Douglas Gregg]

Regi,

I also do as David recommended and use the small tie-wraps. I recently did half the hammers in a Baldwin. I used titebond original and it sounded fine. I could not tell the repaired hammers from the un-repaired. I did caution the owner that more might pop in the future but so far, none have. I see this most often when pianos are stored in a basement or garage for a while where it is very humid. Baldwin did not staple some of their hammers either. That does not help. 

Doug Gregg

[Jon Page]

I use Titebond on the felt with a thin amount of thick CE on the molding and clamp for a few minutes.

[Dempsey, Paul]

Not ever having tried any of these “repairs” I’m wondering what the resulting sound( tone) is like after zip ties and CA, realizing, of course, that it wasn’t great to start with.


Paul E. Dempsey, RPT

> On Mar 27, 2018, at 1:37 AM, Larry Fisher RPT <larry_...@pdxtuner.com> wrote:
>

[Jon Page]

You'd be hard pressed to notice a difference. Here's a repair on a church console with the two-glue method.