Marnie, We too ran across a Fischer with the same problem. The crack was in the treble area strut. Closer examination revealed a stupid flaw in the design underneath where a nose bolt was screwed into a floating 11/2" by 6" board. The board came out from the top of the belly rail, apparently only glued to the top of the belly rail, and the nose bolt was screwed into it, not a frame beam. (This piano had no frame beams.) So as the nose bolt attempted to hold the plate down, against the upward pull of the string tension, this board bowed and rose upwards, allowing the plate strut to expand upwards, and crack from the top of the strut down. In our piano the crack hadn't traveled entirely through to the bottom of the strut. We opened up the crack and found evidence of a factory braze type repair under the finish. They knew there was a problem. Imagine producing something that stupid though and you and I are trying to earn a living against such a current? We did devise a repair which involved bolting that board to the belly rail, with through bolts, so that the string tension couldn't budge it toward the plate. In this particular design it wouldn't be too difficult to demonstrate the manufacturer's folly in a court of law. A nose bolt into an unsecured board. We aren't going to fall for that! David Sanderson Littleton, MA PIANOBIZ@AOL.COM
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