Dave, I rebuilt a 1860's Chickering 8' grand that had the inner rim over the edge of the plate like your piano. Here is how I removed the plate. First steam off the veneer off the top of the rim. Then you will be able to see the glue joint. Drill 1/2 inch holes about 2 inches apart all the way around the top of the rim right in the glue joint down to the plate. Drill as straight as possible to stay in the glue joint and not wander off the joint. With a sharp strong scraper split the inner and outer rim at the glue joint now weakened by the 1/2 inch holes. Go slow and try to do as little damage as possible. The cleaner the inner rim comes apart the easier it will be to glue it back together. The plate can now be removed and the rebuilding can proceed. The inner rim on the Chickering I rebuilt was made of two different types of wood, mahogany and oak. The bent part of the rim in the back of the case was oak and was much harder to split with out damage. Once the plate is back in the piano you can glue the inner rim back in and then dowel the drilled holes and then re glue the veneer that was steamed off. If I had to do this again I think I would glue a 1/8 to 1/4 inch piece of rosewood over the top of the rim instead of the rosewood veneer. The reason for this is that even though I sanded the top of the rim so that the dowels were very flat to the top of the rim, after the new veneer was glued on and the piano was refinished, you could see a shadow of the 1/2 inch dowels through the veneer and the new high gloss finish. This is a lot of work and maybe someone knows of a better way. Nice piano when done. Larry Hofer Corona CA On Thu, 16 Nov 2006 08:56:56 -0600 Dave Doremus <algiers_piano at bellsouth.net> writes: > Anyone have experience doing major surgery on these? The action > problems are straightforward but it looks like the piano is built > like an upright, assembled to the inner rim and bracing with the > outer rim then being applied over the edge of the plate and the > whole > thing then veneered. Could be a nice antique instrument if I could > figure a way to get at the soundboard. Or am I just missing > something > totally obvious? wouldn't be the first time. :-) > -- > ----Dave > > > ----------------------------- > Dave Doremus, RPT > New Orleans > ------------------------------ > >
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