Sanding bridge top

[David Love]

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I like the clear coat of epoxy on the bridge top because it helps
solidify the cap and harden it further and I have to worry less about
the brittleness or fragility of the wood.  There probably is an ideal
angle at which to cut the notch that gives enough guarantee of clearance
for the string even with a little compression on the bridge top and
doesn't undermine the strength at the edge.  I prefer to err on the side
of a little to steep than too shallow.  Once you get away from the notch
edge itself, I'm not sure how much it matters except for appearance.  
 
I use the final coat as a sealer coat as well.  I suppose I could brush
on a coat of sanding sealer (which would be my first choice) in the
notches first, but I don't.    I've gotten away from using shellac.  In
the past I used it underneath the varnish coat on the soundboards and
even on the damper guide rails.  But shellac out of the can is
unreliable and making it up from flakes, filtering it, etc., just takes
more time than I want to give it.  I've gone to lacquer on the
soundboard, bridge body and top, damper guide rails.  It's fast, easy
and dries hard and I don't have to worry about tiptoeing around the shop
for 8 hours trying not to stir up the dust.   
 
David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net 
-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Erwinspiano@aol.com
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 7:41 AM
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Re: Sanding bridge top
 
   David
  I see that you said this but it almost slipped by me. It's early  If
you have much sanding to do I find most often I then need to re-notch
all or part of the bridge to clean up the terminations & sometimes it
means quite a bit of re-notching . 
   With old dry bridge tops it's  very critical to keep your chisel
razor sharp so you can peel the very least amount of wood from the
notch. I'm a big believer that  one should leave as much wood on top of
the bridge as possible for strength & integrity.
The further procedure I now use is to then coat the bridge top with
clear coat epoxy and lightly swab the holes using a toothpick.  After
it's cured, sand back the epoxy with 220 and then 400 paper.  Recut the
notches.  With the appropriate bridge pin drill, drill out the holes
again-slowly and carefully being careful about the angle.  Insert the
new pins with just a touch of epoxy (very slow cure type) and wipe off
the excess.  When cured, spray the bridge cap with a light coat of satin
lacquer (I do it out of a can as it's easier to control a light coat).
Looks great and the epoxy hardens the surface nicely.
  David
   Does this suffice as a sealer coat for the notches too or are you
painting something in the notches first. We always brush in a coat of
shellac & then a coat or two of gloss lacquer. Looks very tidy.
  Dale Erwin
 
 
David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net 
 

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