Searching for Lindner hammer butt

[takenote]

Hello,
I have a client in Germany who is desperately trying to find replacement hammer butts for a Lindner piano manufactured in Ireland. They are quite a strange design (click thumbnail for bigger picture) made mainly of plastic and utilising a 'clip-on' flange without any screws.

I have contacted the usual supply houses but unfortunately, nobody seems to be making these anymore. Therefore my last hope is for used spares. Does anyone recognise this hammer butt? Has anyone ever stripped a Lindner piano and kept any spares?

I would be very greatful for any help.

Thanks for now, Greg

[Barrie Heaton]

They are a waste of space bin it when you try to insert the new butt the one next to it snaps I will not tune them any more However, one should be saved for a museum

Barrie,

[A440]

There is an old saying "there are pianos and there are Lindners"
They are, without doubt, the worst ever piano in the world, ever. Do not even think about tring to fix one. Yes, there is a place for one in a piano museum as a cautionary tale.( only one mind).

[takenote]

Thanks for the replies - I'll pass on the information (in as tactful a manner as I can muster!)

Cheers, Greg

[Tom Tuner]

I have made wooden replacement butts for these, however I cannot say the results were entirely worth the effort. The problem is much as with the acetate plastic spinet elbows, viz.,once they start to go, they will eventually all of them go. There is not much point in making a couple of spot replacements unless you are prepared to go the whole hog. On the other hand, broken key springs are simple to replace if you have some suitable clock spring stock.

Tom Tuner

[takenote]

That's very interesting Tom - how exactly did you make wooden replacements? did you adapt an existing hammer butt or make one from scratch to copy the original design?
Also, how did you attach it to the rail? it looks a complicated aluminium section and difficult to mount a traditional flange onto.

I have actually found some used spares for sale on ebay now, but I would be very interested to know your method for future reference.

Cheers, Greg Fordham

[Barrie Heaton]

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Lindner-Shannon-Pian ... 43QQihZ014
QQcategoryZ43377QQcmdZViewItem

Barrie

[PianoGuy]

Barrie's right. Even a sound butt has the potential to break when fitted, such is the crapness of Polypropylene as a plastic. It should be reserved for low stress applications where moulding accuracy is of little concern.

My advice?

Burn* the Lindner, have fun watching it melt and buy a piano.

Kind regards,

PG

* Make sure this is not done in a confined space. Polypropylene fumes are toxic, but probably not as toxic as the piano.

[Tom Tuner]

For what it's worth, my proceedure was to machine a molding of the desired profile from a length of maple, then slice sections of that to the required width. Since there are no flange screws, and no place to put any, I had to put a wedge in the part that is inserted in the slot in the action rail instead of the intended 'snap-in' fit of the original.

Tom Tuner

[PianoGuy]

For what it's worth, my proceedure was to machine a molding of the desired profile from a length of maple, then slice sections of that to the required width.

Blimey.

Are you the kind of guy who'd restore a Ford Pinto?

[Gill the Piano]

...and his Trabant is in concours condition! Well, we know where to grovel if we ever get a rush of blood to the head and decide to actually repair a Lindner instead of offering the client a match and a gallon of petrol...

[Tom Tuner]

Well, you have to keep in mind that I was well at home in woodworking and machine shop before I ever started on player pianos and such, so making my own tools, duplicating parts, making replacement keys and the like was not exactly a big deal. I was glad to get shed of the Pinto, however, the Escort has received some attention.
To get back to the Lindner/Rippen: it sticks in my mind that there was something hinkey about the damper levers and flanges that made them especially tedious to work on. You could probably replace the entire set of butts, flanges, and damper levers on the original aluminium action rail with Pratt-Read compact S2 components for a couple of hundred $US, but the cost of the labor would render this impractical. Replacement wippens might be a problem because there are several critical dimensions that have to be met.
I always tell the customer, "Sure, it can be fixed, but you won't want to pay what it would cost to have me do it."

Tom Tuner