Brass for piano damper repair

[dave]

Can someone point in the direction where I may be able to get some brass wire to replace some damper return springs on an upright piano. (They are a leaf-type spring)

I can make a jig and then make some new springs if only I could get the correct material (wire) fro the springs. The are made from 0.85 mm brass wire (circular cross section). My best guess is 60 cu 40 Zn alloy.

I have bought some wire on spec. from a couple of ebayers and it's not really suitable beucase its the wrong "type of brass" for this application. One was 0.8 mm - a tad on the thin side (but my best bet yet) and the other 1mm but far too soft. I tried work-hardening this 1mm stuff and it did harden quite well - however the process resulted in a thining of the wire to the point where it was too thin for the job.

I only need a small amount but don't mind pay for more more - if only I can get the stuff.

Thanks

[Bob Minchin]

Have you tried asking a piano tuner?

Bob

[Adrian C]

Try

?

[Ian Smeaton]

Hi Dave,

My piano-tuner brother informs me that there are various 'strengths' of spring because bass strings need more damping than treble ones. Contact me by email and I'll put you in touch with him for spares.

Regards,

Ian

[Dave Osborne]

Have you tried Googling for "piano parts" or "piano spares"?

[dave]

Yes he is certainly correct there

Thanks for your kind offer. I will first though take a look at Adrian's link which has an amazing selection of wire(s). The trick here being to get the correct alloy of brass of course! thanks.

ps The piano is an upright Bechstein so a good instrument. Getting the blue/ turquoise felt is also difficult!

[newshound]

I think it's more likely to be phosphor bronze, not brass. ISTR that it's cold drawn for springs, to get the yield strength. It's difficult to get genuine phosphor bronze these days: it was rather a British product. Modern bronze alloys follow what used to be German DIN standards, and don't contain much phosphorus at all. (Cross posted to helpful UK model making group)

[Roger Woollett]

I suspect it is not the composition of the brass that matters but how it is worked. I found these people

by Googling "hard drawn brass". I have no knowledge of the firm but they advertise "No order too small"

Roger Woollett

[Norman Billingham]

I've used Knight precision wire to get hard drawn phosphor bronze spring winding wire. They were very helpful and knowledgeable but their idea of a small order may not be the same as yours! Nor was their P&P cheap. The stuff I got was described as "hard drawn phosphor bronze Wire" BS2873 PB102 and I ended up with 200 metres of it - unfortunately much too fine for your application.

[Stephen Howard]

which is the site of the chap who wrote the Haynes piano manual. You might even pick up a bit of advice.

Regards,