A Basic Piano Repair

[Matthew Madden]

Hi all:

I bought a nice old piano about a year ago. I got a good deal on a Steinway upright. Recently, one of the hammers broke off. The shaft split. I think that key suffered a sudden blow from a flying object. The piano is in the basement (it is humidity controlled), and my son is 10 years old so.....

I think I could glue the shaft. I'm thinking I could use titebond, and maybe wrap the shaft with light copper wire in couple of places as a clamp, and to give it some mechanical help.

I think I could figure out an OK way to do this, but is there a right way to do it?

Thanks.

[Matthew Madden]

Here's a pic of the broken hammer.

[Bob Gramann]

I'm not a piano tech. Until you hear from one, don't do anything to change the mass of the shaft. I have one of those old Steinways. It's a wonderful piano. One of the neatest things about a Steinway is the way the key feels when you play. Changing the mass would change that. Good luck.

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

I'm not a piano person (in any sense of the word) but the shank (now I'm showing off) can be replaced. Here is a you tube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRkgvRrshP0

[Barry Daniels]

I would wrap the shaft with thread which will also help to clamp the break during gluing.

[Chris Reed]

I would wrap the shaft with thread which will also help to clamp the break during gluing.

I've seen that inside pianos. I think hide glue is used, and the thread is also painted with glue.

[David King]

The piano would undoubtedly benefit from a new shank and hammers anyway if it's a nice one. You would pull all the hammers off in order, pack them up and send them to one of the places that does this. Each hammer head is drilled and glued to it's shank at a slightly different angle which is tricky without the right jig. It's quite reasonable compared to a new piano but probably more than the piano is worth. New strings might be a better investment but both are important to tone production.
Here's a nice illustrated article: http://www.pianopromoproductions.com/re ... %20PDF.pdf

[Matthew Madden]

Thanks for the advice everyone. David, that is a very informative article, but way more work than I want to undertake at this point. I primarily want a functioning piano for my son to learn on....it is a nice bonus that this one sounds great and looks beautiful, too. If my son progresses such that he might appreciate an investment like this, I might consider it.

In the meantime, I am going to ask my piano tuner about repairing the shank. If he knows how to do this repair, I'll probably have him do it. I don't want to mess around too much.

Thanks.