Napoleon Erlandsen and his son, Julius, are well recognized by tool collectors and trade historians for their hand planes and bow drills, but it is not as well known that they manufactured many of the more specialized tools for servicing and manufacturing pianos. These tools were commonly rebadged as Hammacher Schlemmer piano tools.

Erlandsen Piano Regulating tools, as displayed in the 1905 Schley Piano Supply Catalogue.

Erlandsen Piano Regulating tools, as displayed in the 1905 Schley Piano Supply Catalogue. Part 2.

Erlandsen Piano Regulating tools, as displayed in the 1905 Schley Piano Supply Catalogue. Part 3.

My son, Jeremy Shepherd with let-off regulating tool on escapement eyelet screw of 1953 Steinway action model, c. 2009.

Driver placed on the “let off”, or escapement adjustment eyelet screw on a vintage Steinway grand action model. This action model is #37 in a series of 100, made in 1953, to celebrate Steinway and Son’s Centenary. This belonged to my late business partner, and I received the model along with his workbench and vintage tools in 1986. The damper action is not included in the Centenary model.

Various let off screwdrivers: Top to bottom: Hammacher Schlemmer and Co., New York, top three; C. H. Lang, Chicago; Hale, Boston; The remainder, below, are unmarked. Part of the charm of these old tools is their handles, which are mostly rosewood, with attractive turnings. These handles represent a wide variety of user preferences. A discussion of handle matching can be found on the Combination Handles page.

All Hammacher Schlemmer & Co. N.Y. let off tools. Top, ebony handle with German silver ferrule; birch handle with unusual wire-bound ferrule, from the Hornung piano factory, San Francisco; second to bottom, found in Boston in 1978.

Top, C. H. Lang, Chicago; second from top. Lyon & Healy, Chicago; the rest, all unmarked.

All unmarked let-off tools, with various handles, shank lengths, and shapes of socket. Interesting variegated pattern on the example at the top; rosewood with sapwood mixed with heartwood.

14. Drop screw regulator; 15. Stringing wire spacer; 16. Countersink drill bit; 17. Tuning pin extractor; 18. Action wire bender, square capstan adjuster; 19. Upright spoon regulator; 20. For lining up wires beneath upright dowel capstans. Otto Bergmann, Berlin Tool Catalogue, 1927.

Action spring tool, American Felt Co.

Action spring adjusting tool, American Felt Co. 1911.

Partial set of Piano Action Regulating Tools, in the European style, as offered in Otto Bergmann, Berlin Tool Catalogue, 1927.  3. Damper regulator with cross-cut; 4. Flange spacing tool; 5. Key spacer; 6. Damper regulating tool for Overdamper action (know as “birdcage” in North America); 7.Action wire bender; 8. Damper wire regulator with one cut; 9. Upright Spoon regulating tool; 10. Let-off regulating to

Screwdrivers found in piano kits. An advantage of having individual handles for these tools is that the size and shape of the handle can be chosen for a particular function or intended use, not unlike the mating of an appropriately sized handle for a particular chisel. Individual preference also entered into this.

Two piano action screw holders. Top Lyon & Healy; bottom Hale.

Pre-WWI action center reamer and burnisher; small screwdriver.

Top to bottom: hollow ground screwdriver with large ebony London pattern handle; piano action screwdriver with rosewood Tuck handle; two narrow action screwdrivers. short screwdriver; two offset screwdrivers, for hard to access places, and antique rocker actions.

Balancier height adjustment screw. Thanks to my son Jeremy Shepherd (c.2009) for the extra pair of hands in these demonstrations.

Impeccable quality on these antique grand drop screw regulating tool. When it comes to the ‘old times,’ do not believe the naysayers.

Although not action regulation, installing bridle tapes in old uprights was a frequent job for many years. Before WWII, installing bridal tapes was done by tacking them to the hammer butt, rather than using a cork attached into the hole of the butt catcher, which was patented on June 15th 1920, and widely practiced by the 1930s. Bridal tack inserter with full package of bridal tacks.

Fixed individual piano tool handles (l.) from Otto Higel, Toronto 1906 Catalogue.

Myriad tool handles, Marples (U,K) catalogue, early 20th century.

Tucks rosewood octagon handles, as shown in the Schley Catalogue for 1905. Tuck Mfg. Co., Brockton, MA, provided at least some of the rosewood handles for the tools shown here and in the catalogs. In my opinion, these handles, used for piano regulating and repairing, and other tools too, were some of the finest available in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The shape shown below is a slight variation on the London pattern handle, and most of the other regulating tool handles, without the round section at the end, are known as common octagon handles.

Hammershank reducer (l.) mounted on Tuck type handle. Another method of refining the fit of new hammers onto shanks.

Examples of two tapered octagonal handles (r.), which is an older handle shape, going back to the 17th and 18th centuries. Ferrules were added later, in the 19th century, and these were often used for chisels. At the top of the photo is a reamer, slightly larger reamers are used for reaming the bored holes in the grand hammer moulding, to refine the fit of the shank in the hammer moulding before gluing and hanging. The small tool with a rosewood handle is a small rat tail file that was found in a piano kit, probably used to slightly enlarge the balance holes in keys where the balance rail pins were binding.

This Wm. Greaves “Sheafworks” gouge was probably made in the 1820s, but was done in the 18th century practice, with an octagonal bolster, and matching facets on the tapered octagonal hickory handle which was very likely original. The wood of the handle would be fitted to the back of the bolster, which, in those days was not always flat. 

I doubt that the leather washer would have been necessary in this case. A bolster was needed to protect the handle from splitting when tapped with a mallet. Before 1840, circular pipe stock was not readily available, so the large bolster was the solution. The bolster was slipped over the tang hot, and once cool, was permanently fastened in place.

Regulating tools without handles, top to bottom: Homemade let off tool for adjusting grands with action in the piano Pratt Read capstan tool Offset screwdriver for rocker actions/ capstan wrench Capstan wrench for both square and Moore-type capstans

Action center fitting tools (l.), rosewood handles, pre-1910. Drill, for removing cloth bushing, reamer, for fitting center pin, and burnisher, a somewhat overlooked tool.

Backcheck regulating tool on backcheck wire of Steinway action model (r.).

Top to bottom: H.S. Co. N.Y.; H.S.; H.S.; Erlandsen, with German silver and steel ferrule; H. S.; Lyon & Healy; H.S.: unmarked with nickel plating; Julius Erlandsen, large, with full London pattern handle.

Top to bottom: Heavy spacing tool with large rosewood handle; heavy spacer with cross-pin, from Hornung factory, San Francisco; from Hornung estate; long Erlandsen spacer with quick insert feature; English pattern, offset, with double bevel at tip to push under cloth front rail punching (possibly the best design of the group); C.F. Lang, with stained hardwood handle. The very long key spacers (14″ to 17″ not including the handle) were made for factory use, and the length allowed workers to stand back and have the entire keyboard within the field of view, while actively working. It’s one of those details that makes a tremendous difference when when producing volume work at the same task for the entire work day.

 (r.)19th century front key pin spacing tool (l.), from the Hornung factory, San Francisco, in 1990. Jeremy Shepherd placed the tool under the punchings. This heavy key spacing tool was flattened top and bottom, with a large crosspin. Shank is 3/8″ in diameter.

H. S. 1925 catalogue. It’s identical to the Erlandsen key spacer included in the catalogue illustrations at the top of this page.

Capstan adjustment (l.), and a closer view of the Steinway and Sons Centenary action model #37, c. 1953.

Julius Erlandsen Universal Capstan Regulating Tool (r.), from Continental Music 1953 Piano Supply Catalogue. A later tool by Julius, probably introduced in the 1930s. This is the latest example of an Erlandsen tool pictured in a trade catalogue.

Capstan adjusting tools: top and bottom, for Duo Art pianos or concert grands with extra long keys; 2nd down, Lyon and Healy, 3rd down, Lyon & Healy, for Moore capstans.

Wire benders, top to bottom: American Felt Co., N.Y.; unmarked; Hale, Boston; unmarked; bottom four H.S. & Co. N.Y.

The tool third down from the top has a handle made from a maple dowel, stained and varnished, probably from the early post WWI era. By this time, production of these tools with increasingly costly and space-consuming rosewood octagon handles became less of a standard practice, and by the 1930s, most regulating tools were sold with a specialized base made to be fastened into the socket of the combination regulating handle.

Offset damper wire benders.

Hammacher Schlemmer Advertisement for upright piano action spoon bender (Erlandsen), in the Music Trades Review, 1903.

Upright spoon adjusting tools. top unmarked, middle L7H, bottom HS & Co.

Top to bottom: J. Erlandsen, NY; H.S. & Co. N.Y.; C.H. Lang Chicago;H.S. Co. N.Y; Unmarked, nickel plated with full London pattern handle.

Damper head wrench, generally associated with overdamper upright actions, but not exclusively. Offered by Renner in the late 20th century.

Damper head wrench, illustration by Leon Pinet, Paris.

Damper head wrench, close up.

Top to bottom: keystick balance hole easing tool; bottom 3, various keystick balance hole reamers, primarily for factory use.

Top to bottom: keystick balance hole easing tool; bottom 3, various keystick balance hole reamers, primarily for factory use.