Estey lyre support rods

[Keith Roberts]

Thank You Susan,
The sliding curtain rod trick. Almost a one handed trick. Good one.  I might
find some hardwood dowels around here. Oak, I would guess. I know a couple
of people who do turnings and would have walnut. That would look real nice
but probably over kill.
Appreciate the response, I ask a lot of dumb questions. Like, was I wrong to
tell this lady who called that $950 was a steal of a price for a 6'6"  1925
Kimball. Maybe I could have had it if I hadn't sounded like I wanted it.
Keith R.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Kline" <sckline@attbi.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2002 8:05 PM
Subject: Re: Estey lyre support rods


>
> >This time the piano was wobbly. A 1923 Estey baby grand <snip>
> >They also lost the Lyre support rods. Were those made from dowel stock?
> >Looks like a socket for a rounded end or did I look too quick? What would
> >have been the original wood they were made out of? I prefer to duplicate
> >original if possible. Were the sockets lined? Felt, buckskin? Are the
> >Shaff brass rods the only other option? Thanks for your experience.
> >Keith R
> >Associate PTG
>
>
> Well, Keith, it's hard to tell exactly what was there to start with,
unless
> you just happen to run across another Estey grand. But while I've found
> some Aeolian grands with plain dowels for lyre props, most sticks I've
seen
> were either turned on a lathe (thicker in the middle), or square in
> cross-section and tapered, so they were thicker in the middle and tapered
> on the ends. Then a round would be turned on the last few inches. Look at
a
> Steinway to see this style of lyre prop. Also, there is sometimes a little
> bead or two in the thick area of the middle, or a little ridge. Late 19th
> century grands could have more elaborately turned lyre sticks, but by 1923
> they probably were fairly simple.
>
> Of course, most of this is just for decoration ... but if the woodworking
> doesn't scare you, it can be fun to do something like this. Stain them
dark
> and put some sort of varnish on them. Hardwood is sturdiest, but maple
> doesn't take stain well.
>
> To get them the right length, I make them a little long, and then with the
> lyre installed, I use a short telescoping curtain rod, putting it into one
> end hole and pulling it out until it touches the other. Then I mark where
> the curtain rod overlaps itself, with a magic marker. At this point, I can
> remove it, pull it back out until the mark is seen, and lay it next to the
> lyre prop to mark where I should saw.
>
> Hope this is some help. Of course, you can just use those short brass
> braces which screw into the posts and the keybed, but while they work they
> don't look original at all.
>
> Susan Kline
>
>