Warped grand piano lid

[Tom Cole]

I had a black M & H in the shop for a rebuild/refinishing. The main lid
was damaged and, early on, I sent it to a cabinet maker who had a veneer
press to re-veneer the top. Some time after it came back, I started the
refinishing process and noticed that the main lid was warped along the
piano hinge, crowned as the soundboard (up). I wasn't clear on how or
when it happened but, at any rate, didn't notice a problem when it was
returned so now was presented with an opportunity for creativity.

I came up with the idea of making the topslip (stiffener with the lid
stick sockets) considerably more stiff by routing a slot in the "dark"
face and epoxying in an iron bar (invisible but when you raised the lid,
you _knew_ something was different). Now, with the stiffener screwed to
the lid, the warp was nearly gone, enough so that I saw no need to plane
down the center of the stiffener - or glue it onto a _wet_ top! (Hey,
would that be a tension uncrowned top?)

Not exactly what you were looking for, Brian, but all this crowing about
compressed soundboards got me thinking in the opposite direction :-)

But just maybe modifying the lid log, or adding one or two additional
ones like some concert grands, would help.

Tom

Brian Henselman wrote:
> 
> >In a message dated 9/28/99 4:01:28 PM !!!First Boot!!!,
> lawsonic@global.co.za
> >writes:
> >
> ><< Hi list, One of my next contract jobs is a grand where the lid has
> warped
> > considerably, might be described as an S shaped crown as Ron might put it,
> > but this is a lid, not a soundboard. Warp is such that at the right hand
> > corner (by hinge) is about half an inch up when lid "closed". This
> happened
> > some time ago when I believe owner had it in storage somewhere. It is
> > figured walnut and weighting cost of feasable repair against replacement.
> I
> > had thoughts of pvc go bars as recently described except workshop has very
> > high ceiling and not sure how much pressure for how long if this is an
> > option.
> >
> > Thoughts, suggestions, comments welcome.
> >  >>

-- 
Thomas A. Cole, RPT
Santa Cruz, CA
mailto:tcole@cruzio.com