Plastic part for a spinet

I haven't posted in a year or more. I've been a busy thing - 24 piano students plus performing as one half of a duo. Having a blast!

I went over to a student's house today to see her piano that her parents bought for her. They really had to sacrifice to buy it for her. They barter with me to enable her to have lessons.

The piano is a Lester (?) spinet. Three keys are just sitting at the bottom of the key bed and obviously not attached to anything. Her dad and I took a peek inside at the bottom and saw that a plastic part that holds the works together has broken on each of the keys that aren't working. All of the other ones are very yellowed and brittle so I think we've got a problem. I looked in Larry Fine and it appears to be the plastic elbow.

Her dad is very handy and after inspecting it declared that it looked like an easy fix. It looked that way to me too.

Now to my question. If this is a feasible repair for this gentleman where can I purchase the parts? I think he's going to need these plastic things on hand. If I'm not making it clear what's wrong I can take a digital picture and email it to whoever asks.

I know the best solution here is to hire a tech but money is a problem for this family. However, they are planning to get the piano tuned in a few months once it is settled into their house. If only a tech should do this job, is it an expensive one?

Thank you in advance for your help!

It's a pretty simple job. The way I do it is this, with a pair of needle nose pliers, crush the old elbow where it screws onto the shaft. It will basically fall into powder. Then screw on the new one. As Rick says, leave a little slack.

Gerry

True. Also take the needle nose pliers and gently crush any plastic around the action centerpin where it connects to the action. Be careful there and you won't mess up the bushings or the pin, and then use the Vagias snap on type elbows. A lot easier than the alternative, and reduces the risk of damage to the plastic parts that may exist further up the action - parts that are just as dried out and crumbly as the elbows. If you put the slightest bit of pressure on the action parts you'll find out that what you're getting into may not be anywhere near as simple as you think.

Larry Fletcher Dealer/technician

Doing the work of three men.....Larry, Curly, & Moe

Right, I forgot to mention that. Be careful there and you

Where else have you found plastic parts in a spinet action? Off hand, I can't remember any although it's been a few years since I actually worked on any.

Quite often when you find plastic elbows you'll also find that all the flanges are plastic, as well as the damper assemblies, backchecks, and a few other bits and pieces.

Larry Fletcher Dealer/technician

Doing the work of three men.....Larry, Curly, & Moe

Interesting, do you recall what brands you have seen all this plastic in? I don't doubt it, I just haven't seen it. At different times, some of them quite recent, we have believed that plastic would prove a superior material. It may happen yet, who knows? Gerry

Gerry,

The plastic parts (flanges) Larry refers to were as common as flies in cheap spinets. I think it was mostly spinets made in the 40's and 50's. It was a real low-end plastic (cellulose I think?) that crystallizes with age and crumbles at the slightest touch. It was typically used for hammer flanges, wippen flanges, damper flanges, and of course elbows. If you don't explore the action beyond the elbows, you might not see it.

As far as brand names go, there were many, but I'm afraid to name them strictly from memory. But it was the likes of Lester, etc. Anything real cheap during that era, is the best I can say. When plastic elbows were found, it was more likely than not that there were plastic flanges, too.

Sometimes I found pianos where the plastic elbows were in much worse shape than the flanges. This seemed to have something to do with Dampp-Chaser rods hung very close to the elbows. Though the amount of heat is not great, it seems that that type of plastic contained camphor or a similar substance, and the heat drove it out of the plastic at a faster rate than the parts more distant. However, with enough time, all the plastic in the piano loses the camphor, and loses all strength. The elbows were just the first to go.

Regards,

Rick Clark

The plastic turns up in consoles as well: I say that having just trashed a Pratt-Read action with plastic backchecks, damper levers, jacks etc and some sort of metal action rail. This particular action came from a late 40s Perlman piano, but I recall seeing a Knabe or two of this vintage with plastic parts.

Interesting, I don't normally (make that didn't) go any further into spinets than was absolutely necessary for obvious reasons. In my area the common ones were Gulbransens and Whitneys from the fifties to seventies. I very rarely removed the actions from spinets, so I was wondering if I missed something I should have been looking for. You can, or course, change the elbows by just removing the kick panel. I did come across a number of consoles with the plastic action parts which I normally just avoided. In my area you needed to have a few cheap pianos on hand for those who just can't buy any better. To that end I used to buy spinets cheap, put them into serviceable order and sell them cheap.

Gerry