8. Buckskin Replacement

We offer buckskin ready to use, or buy bulk, cut your own, and save!

Uprights, consoles, and spinets only

Find the buckskins on the Diagram Page, and get familiar with it.

This buckskin covers the end of the stump coming away from the hammer butt. The leather acts as a brake when it contacts the face of the back check, and this is important when you hold a note down to sustain it. This process allows the hammer to reset and be ready for another blow without hesitation. Buckskin is also used to cover the back checks in a grand piano, and it is used to cover the roller attached to the shank of grand pianos. In this case, you will do better to buy new rollers.

Remove all the old leather from the stump before putting the new leathers on. It may not be necessary to do them all, especially in the high treble and low bass. The lower end of the leather is tucked into a groove or wedged back under its wood mounting. Clean out as much as you can of this leather.

It is not too smart to improvise with a felt substitute or leather you salvaged from other applications. This buck skin is made for the piano trade and is very durable.

Cut the new THIN leather pieces with scissors so that they are exactly the dimensions of the face of the wood mount, and make them shorter than the originals. You don't have to put on as much leather as the factory did, but be sure the top of the leather is at the top of the wood mount. Taper the lower end of the leather pieces so that they can be glued down tight and out of the way of other moving parts.

Glue the leathers on with Elmer's carpenter's glue, not the pure white stuff, and BE SURE the rough side is out so that it will have maximum friction with the back check. You may have to work slowly, holding each buckskin until it stays flush and tight on the wood mount.

  On to task 9.

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