[CAUT] bridge cap sanding

[Jeff Farris]

>>No, I actually meant the pins, not the strings, but I guess them, too.
>
>Woops, my mistake. No, you don't ever need to seat bridge pins. It 
>is of no tonal consequence whether they're seated or not, and 
>humidity cycles will insure that they aren't seated most of the time 
>anyway whatever you do. All seating pins does is seat strings by 
>virtue of the friction between pin and string dragging the string 
>down into the notch edge as the pin goes down, further damaging the 
>notch edge. And seating strings is still a pointless and destructive 
>process as well. Make the pin solid at the top of the bridge cap and 
>all the reasons that techs feel the need to seat pins or strings go 
>away.
>
>>Anyway, I would like to CA glue them in place. Would you drive them 
>>in first and then add the glue (trying to not make a mess) or what? 
>>And what thickness.
>
>Using CA, if they're reasonably tight after driving them in, I'd 
>drive them all in and use the thin. A couple of passes, soaking in 
>all you can get to go in there has worked well for me. Personally, 
>the thought of squirting CA in a hole and chasing a pin in with a 
>hammer is terrifying. Any procedure combining the concepts of CA and 
>splash are something I want no part of. Alternately, a couple of 
>drops of West System epoxy wetting the top of the hole, with the pin 
>driven in while it's still wet is still my first choice.
>
>In any case, the important thing is getting as much of your goop of 
>choice into the cap grain as close to the surface as possible. Depth 
>of penetration down the pin is of little to no importance, but 
>solidity of the termination at the top is primary.
>Ron N

Got it, thanks.

-- 
Jeff Farris
Piano Technician
School of Music
UT Austin
mailto; jfarris at mail.utexas.edu
512-471-0158