Sohmer "Cupid Model" Restoration

[Clark]

Hello,

We just finished a quick restoration on a Sohmer "Cupid Model" grand
with agraffes on the tenor bridge but with front and back pins in the
undamped treble and in the bass. The bridge in the middle tenor had
rolled, pulling the soundboard and bridge loose from the ribs.

Our shop has repaired this (before my time) with bolts in front of the
agraffes through the bridge roots and ribs. The owner of this piano
specified that we simply make it work: 40% of the ivory was damaged, and
the action was fairly poor.

I capped the ribs with maple (recycled from a delaminated upright
wrestplank) slightly oversized of the separation at the front, extending
about half of that to the rear. I placed screws from underneath the
soundboard into the front of the bridge, carefully clearing the agraffes
and additionally I put screws with soundboard buttons through the top of
the soundboard into the maple caps on the three worst (cracked) ribs.

Preliminary tuning/voicing actually surprised me in not having the
anomolies I expected: certainly it sounds as good as it would with
bolts.

Clark Panaccione