Cracked bridge

[bwaller@sunrise.alpinet.net]

I'm curious what the age of the piano is now.  Did the current bridge last
15-25 years?  Will the rest of the piano last another 25 years?

My experience with Kimball's is that, with much use, the center pins begin
to work out and cause problems.  (Why is that --anybody know?)

I think I'd choose epoxy fill and not worry about longevity of repair beyond
8-10 years.

Bruce Waller, RPT

At 10:37 PM 8/25/96 -0800, you wrote:
>I've got a console Kimball coming in the shop today that has developed a
>crack in the very high treble bridge.  The crack is in the usual place,
>between the pins.  I need suggestions for repair.  Epoxy fill, Weldwood
>clamp, catalist filler, router and recap, etc.  I'm of course looking for
>cost effective, relative to the quality of the instrument and the customer's
>pocket book, and longevity of repair, something that will last another 15-25
>years or so.  Any suggestions??  I'm leaning towards packing some wood
>compatable Epoxy down the crack and clamping.  I've got a problem with this
>because the wood wanted to split there in the first place, and clamping it
>would simply make it want to crack there again.  (stored energy)  How about
>filling the crack with that same Epoxy and redrilling the pin holes, or
>filling the crack with a catalist type plastic filler, and redrilling.
>
>The router and recap routine is out of the question for this repair.  It's
>too costly, and I'm not set up for it.  Plus I don't feel the piano is worth
>the expense if other repairs will work just as well.
>
>Take your best shot guys.
>
>Lar
>
>                                                  Larry Fisher RPT
>                specialist in players, retrofits, and other complicated stuff
>                       phone 360-256-2999 or email larryf@pacifier.com
>                  http://pacifier.com/~larryf/homepage.html (revised 5/96)
>                         Beau Dahnker pianos work best under water
>
>
>