Hey everybody! I have a customer who owns a J. Bauer upright (1923) which is like nothing I've seen before, although some of the RPT's in my chapter have seen them. The plate struts are probably 3 or 4 inches deep, there are ribs on both sides of the soundboard, and the bass bridge is mounted on 11 dowels that stick out from the bridge apron - the bridge face is probably 5 or 6 inches from the soundboard! I'm sure the thing weighs a ton and a half, considering all the extra cast iron in the plate. This brings some questions to mind: 1. Was this an experimental design? Given the expense in manufacturing (extra plate iron, the extra-deep cabinet, bass bridge construction, etc), the manufacturer must have been convinced that this was a superior design. 2. All of the classes I've attended that deal with bridge construction emphasize the importance of maximum contact between bridge and soundboard, and yet this design relies on transmitting the bridge vibrations through 11 dowels - that doesn't add up to a whole lot of surface area. Why would this have been considered to be a superior (or even viable) design? 3. Now for the nitty gritty - the bass bridge is cracked (not badly split out, but loose pins)along the top pins and really should be glue-repaired. It would definitely not be worth the expense to build a new bridge. I have always tilted pianos to perform this repair, but do I need to be concerned that my tilter may not handle the extra weight of this particular piano? If so, does anybody have any suggestions for a safer way to repair the bridge (short of making a new one)? 4. I took pictures of the piano, bridge, etc. because it was interesting to me - is this piano enough of an oddity that it might be worth submitting to the Journal? I'll be interested to hear your 2 cents worth on this one! -Scott -- Scott A. Helms, RPT Helms Music Enterprises (269) 381-4521 www.helmsmusic.net
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