Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Tuner-Technicians Forum No buckskin on my hammer butt

My hammer butt has no buckskin only felt (the green has been added at some later date). How do I get as little friction as possible? How could that work? Thanks folks.

Well, there really isn’t that much friction on an upright hammer but because the jack comes up and away from its resting point.
If you are concerned, then an application of Teflon powder would help.

The hammer butt should have buckskin. From what it looks like, it does. Generally, it is leather.

The green felt you speak of, is so that when the jack returns, it lands on top of the felt rather than the wood which would then result in a clicking sound. It almost looks a bit to thick? The jack may slip out prematurely if the felt is to thick. Kind of hard to tell. The pic quality isn't the best.

The first thing would be to get a good cleaning and a good regulation on the piano along with probably replacing the bridal straps. I see that the bridal strap in the picture is broken where it engages the bridal strap wire. It appears to be torn away there. Having the strap properly attached helps the hammer to return faster for one and when the action or butt assembly is removed, it keeps the jack from falling down and getting stuck underneath the whole butt.

Proper regulation means a lot to have everything moving as it should. get a good technician in to look it over and fix things up as they should be fixed and adjusted and it should make a world of difference.

That looks like a butt from a birdcage piano. Any piano that old will have a lot of issues, which just cannot be addressed.

If it's from a bird cage, where's the bird???

You're right BDB! But it works nicely (it's a Pleyel). I want to improve it's action. Below is what's unusual - There's a cam on the jack the 'bullet' shaped adjusters, I think, are more important than the top of the jack?

"No Buckskin On My Hammer Butt." Sounds like a new country song.

That is a particular problem with these actions. The letoff adjustment is made from the back of the action, so that it cannot be adjusted while the action is in the piano. You cannot get an accurate letoff with these actions. Friction is the least of their problems.

Birdcage actions have a problem built in. The long wires, which operate under compression, will bend as they are pushed up against the dampers. That bend prevents them from operating precisely.

There are so many better pianos that people have trouble giving away, that spending time on a birdcage action is just a waste. See the topic in the main Piano section.

Will do, thanks. But surely if it was good enough for Chopin!?

I am glad he put the word "hammer" in the topic line. Otherwise I would think he might be talking about the proper way to dress for the Folsom Street Fair!

I can easily make a tool for the letoff adjusters - is that what the bullet shaped things are called?

Sorry folks, totally wrong it is buckskin. I can't work out if it's fuzzy side out or has a layer of felt. Any idea?

They are the let-off so you could call them that if you want.



You would have a better view of that than anyone here. if it is buckskin like you have decided and you can see the fuzzy side then I strongly suspect it is the fuzzy side you are looking at…..

I was wondering if buckskin is ever covered with a thin layer of felt? Anyway as an experiment I've replaced all the butt and jack cam buckskin on 14 notes with leather a piano restorer sent me. I'll know tomorrow what effect it's had on the action. Any advice for what to do next?

It may be some leather other than deerskin.

I believe it's veg.tanned goat leather.

Chopin, not so long ago on a similar vintage (1850s) piano I had to replace all the cam buckskin (along with just about everything else!). I found that the piano supply skin did not have the same quality as the old remnants. After experimenting with some different materials I found that ordinary flange felt provided the least amount of friction. I did the whole piano with it and the resulting action had a very silky let-off feel, without the notch-feel, when playing on the finished piano. Maybe this may wear quicker and is compromising historical integrity but at least it works and is reversible if necessary. I used normal piano shop buckskin for the butts.

Is this speculation on your part? How does one tell the difference between leathers - calfskin, goat skin etc, not to mention the tanning method used?

The guy who supplied it said it was veg tanned goat leather.

Thanks Chris! Yes I'll experiment. As it's for personal use I don't mind something wearing out quicker and I'm not fussy about authenticity. In that case folks, what the other materials could you suggest?

I think Jurgen and I were talking about the original leather.