Epoxy Man Strikes Again

[Ron Nossaman]

>4. Tone killer, as reported by a friend who used epoxy glue for a bridge 
>(as an adhesive).
>
>Hmmm. Anyone know anything about this? Or is this an offshoot of the 
>"circle of sound" theory?

Not in my experience. Folks have been using epoxy for bridge work for a 
long time - because it works quite well. If the tone was killed in the 
piano with an epoxy attached bridge, it was for reasons other than the use 
(at least the correct use) of epoxy. I habitually bed cutoff bars in, and 
fill rib mortices with epoxy for new rib scales to very satisfactory affect.


>I have never glued a bridge to a board. I will be doing so soon. I know 
>that you need good even clamping pressure when using hide glue or 
>Titebond. I have fear that I won't get good pressure everywhere. Epoxy 
>would eliminate that concern. Anyone in the mood to convince me that I 
>will get a good bond by running a few screws through the board back into 
>the bridge? Or convince me epoxy is not a good choice - haven't seen good 
>evidence yet!
>
>Terry Farrell


I've always done it just that way. My Titebond attached bridges are clamped 
to the board by screws and soundboard buttons alone, with possibly a small 
hand clamp on the extreme treble end. Just enough pressure to close any gap 
and get some glue squeeze out. I guarantee that anything past an hour later 
(actually, more like 10 minutes), you won't get one of those bridges off 
that board without destroying the board. Why in the world wouldn't that be 
adequate? It just isn't any more critical than that.

If you want to use epoxy, by all means do it instead of asking to be talked 
out of it. It shouldn't do any harm, but I don't see any reason to go to 
the trouble, and there won't be a discernable performance benefit or 
penalty either way.

Ron N