Today I spent some time replacing a few of the worn out tapes in our upright piano with clip on bridle straps (I found a relatively inexpensive full set of tapes here) after getting fed up with hitting ‘dead’ notes when trying to play.
Replacing the clip-on tapes was fairly simple and went something like this:
- Remove the old, worn-out tape.
- Clip the new tape on to the post just above the point where the previous tape was attached.
- Fiddly bit: twist the clip around so that the tape is coming from underneath the post and push it right to the back (the part furthest from you).
- Making sure that the tape isn’t twisted, bring it down to the right of the bridle wire and attach (use other straps in the piano as an example).
This diagram (found here) might help and shows the working parts of an upright piano mechanism. The part that needs replacing is part 20 (the bridle strap), which attaches to parts 18 (bridle wire) and the post between parts 24 and 25 (the back stop and hammer butt).
While the cover was off, I thought it would be nice to share a few pictures. When you see how much time, effort and skill it would take to create these instruments it makes you appreciate them even more.
Hannah Sterry 
Thx for the links. Good info. This is my weekend project!
You’re welcome! I hope it all goes well!
uuuh, complicated – enough work for me, to replace guitar strings …
We’ve and old upright. Hubby ended up make some repairs from pieces that he found at the bottom of the inside, but then he is an electrical engineer. Kind of weird coming home and seeing the guts of your piano in the middle of the room. We actually need to find another home for it. While it does have a slight crack in it…the back board. It still should have a long life. I think too it was a mish-mash of piano pieces. Might have been a player at one point. Wish us luck. I’d really rather it find a home than be dismantled.
Thanks for visiting Angel Messenger. We are trying to sell our house in Spain so we can move to Newton Abbot in South Devon. Who knows one day we may meet. Hope so! Love David
Forgot to say my step grandfather was a piano cabinet maker in Barnstaple, North Devon. L & L David.
If you cannot fix something with a hammer, I’m lost.
I know I need to replace several straps. When I order does it matter if I order standard or clip on style? Is the clip on to make it easier or is unique to certain pianos?
I ordered clip on bridle straps because they’re quicker and easier to change. My piano tuner uses them too, so I assume they’re compatible with most upright pianos. 🙂
Reblogged this on dayledann.
Wow!