hammers glued in?

[themanwhowas]

Hey guys,

I'm not sure if pianostreet is the best place to ask a piano maintanence question but....

Some of my hammers are misaligned, so they hit 2 out of 3 strings. I removed the action and had a look at how to rectify this and the hammers appear to be glued in. Is this normal? I can't find information about how to do this. You can see from the picture that all the hammers are glued in this way. If this is normal, how would one adjust the hammers? do I have to remove the glue somehow first?

Thanks

ps. I know hiring a pro is the best option but I tune the piano and do other basic repairs myself so I'm not a total noob. I'd rather do it myself if I can.

Having trouble uploading the pictures. You can see them at:

https://imagebin.org/195594
https://imagebin.org/195595

[willvenables]

Yes, hammers are always glued in - both the shank into the butt and the moulding (hammer head) onto the top of the shank. DO NOT separate these glue joints.

The adjustment to re-align the hammers to the strings is done by lightly slackening the screw on the flange, turning the flange so the hammer face is centred to the strings and then tightening the flange screw whilst securing the new angle of the flange.

The hammer flange is the lower part of the hammer assembly. Located by following the hammer assembly from hammer head > hammer shank > hammer butt > hammer flange. You will see the hammer butt is hinged to a wood plate screwed to the action rail (the main wood or metal rail running horizontally across the whole width of the action).

It helps to pack out the hammer rest rail (the rail the hammers are resting on when not played, and the left pedal will bring it forward) to get the hammers as close to the strings as possible, but not touching.

Insert a fine, thin flat-head screwdriver between 2 flanges to lightly set the angle and hold in place whilst tightening. You mustn't use too much force as the flange and centre could break - and don't over-tighten the screw as this could compromise the thread in the rail. Chose to work on the hammers from left to right, or vica versa - which ever is most appropriate for the majority of hammers (if they are too far to the right, work from bass end through to treble, inserting the screwdriver between the flange and the flange on the right. Using the 'screwdriver between flanges' method will most likely move the adjacent flange also, so be sure that the flange you are leveraging against is one you need to adjust next anyway.

Check the hammers don't touch on their travel to and from the strings also.

This can open a can of worms though: the hammer shanks may be warped and twisted, requiring casting (heating) of the shanks; the hammer travel may need correcting (fine paper shims mounted between one side of the flange and the action rail); hammer centres (hinge joint) loose; broken flanges etc.

Really, it is best to get a tech to do this for you - or at least to check it over and advise - at a cost.