OK, Guys, I need help Hazleton Bros. 5'10" Grand. Neatly rebuilt, (by me). Too little downbearing in the treble, so I lowered it a bit. (I've Done such things before.) Brought up the tension nice and evenly, installed dampers, sounding good at A-440, ready for fine tuning. During the Fine Tuning: THWUNK !! I couldn't see anything, so I played a chromatic scale. It climbed nicely until I passed the last strut, and dropped a fourth. Then I could see the crack, travelling toward the Northeast, but holding near the edge of a circular sound hole. I QUICKLY dropped tension on that section, and then dropped the rest of the piano. Fortunately this pinblock is only attached to the frame, and not to the case, so I loosed everything, pulled out the frame with the block and strings intact, and called a welder who assured me he could handle this. Re-painted, reinstalled, strings back in place, tension up to A-440 and holding. Last Friday before bed I played a chromatic scale again, and it wasn't chromatic. . . . . . So I dropped the tension on the last section and went to bed. There's more to welding cast iron then I knew. My welder did not heat the plate, nor cool it slowly, as I hear is necessary. And I've heard from a far more skilled fellow, that this kind of welding is very much an art. Question: What if I had a steel plate created, and with PC-7 between it and the underside of the frame to give it strong frictional contact, drilled, tapped and bolted this plate in place below the cracked area. It would be out of sight, and providing considerable strength for that area. Would this be sufficient to bear the tension and give us our whole piano back? Roger C. Hayden, RPT Clarks Summit, PA ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC