Cracked Apron Question and Serial# Help

[Mike Spalding]

Julia,

I'm not sure I understand the problem.  "Sounds great" isn't normally 
associated with broken or unglued bridge.  While you lead off with 
"cracked apron",  your questions are all about relocating the bridge, 
not about repairing the crack. 
Q:  If it sounds great, why not leave well enough alone?
Q:  If it sounds like the bass bridge has lost its connection to the 
soundboard, why not start by repairing the cracked apron and see how 
that affects the sound?
Here's one answer:  To be confident in your bridge/apron diagnosis, and 
to effectively repair them, you will have loosen the bass strings and 
get them off of the bridge.  Also helpful in making repairs without 
getting glue on the strings.
And another answer:  Before the apron can move around on the soundboard, 
you have to remove all the bridge button screws from the back of the 
soundboard.  Not uncommon to find one hidden behind a back-post - if you 
can't get it with an offset screwdriver, drill through the backpost to 
get access for a standard screwdriver.

Mike



KeyKat88 at aol.com wrote:
> Greetings,
>  
>          A church has a free old Rudolf upright piano serial# 26537.   
> It's a pretty well built piano, except it has a split apron, and it 
> has a ghost glue mark as if it was originally located 1/2" higher on 
> the soundboard . I tried to move the apron from side to side against 
> the sound board to see if it was loose. It wont budge. I cannot tell 
> if someone reglued it back on the sound board. 
>  
> Q. Would a piano's apron be loose enough to move even if the glue 
> joint was broken? In other words, would the downbearing/tension of the 
> strings hold the apron in place, even though the glue gave out? 
>  
> If the thing was re-glued, the tech was /awfully/ neat with the glue. 
> Either that, or it wasnt glued. I cannot tell. There is no dried oozed 
> glue! Piano sounds great for its age.
>  
> Q. How do I to repair so that it wont cost a small fortune? My guess 
> is to loosen the bass strings, lightly hammer a small wedge of wood 
> between the soundboard and apron, to temporariy separate them and then 
> pour in some quality wood glue and remove the wedge.
>  
> What is this piano's age? Thanks in advance!
>  
> 5 year rookie 
> Julia Gottshall
> Reading, PA     
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> See what's new at AOL.com 
> <http://www.aol.com?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001170> and Make AOL Your 
> Homepage <http://www.aol.com/mksplash.adp?NCID=AOLCMP00300000001169>.