[pianotech] Gulbransen pedals

[paul bruesch]

A repair I recently did (and sadly neglected to take photos...) was on a
1954 Gulbransen spinet. The pedal had been repaired once already, possibly
twice. It had been brazed, I believe, then "reinforced" with some thin metal
straps attached with nuts/screws through the vertical holes.

When I first encountered it, it was broken in two places. I went to Lowe's
or Menard's and bought some aluminum channel, and also some 2mm flat
aluminum, and some JB Weld. First experience with JB Weld and I am very
impressed. Mixed it up and slopped the channel full, dropped the pedal parts
in, and covered the top with the 2mm flat. Let it cure for about a week,
filed off the excess and installed it in the piano. I'm pretty sure it's
about 100x stronger than original.

Only thing to watch for is that the opening in the front of the piano is
large enough to accomodate the pedal's larger stem, which it was in this
case. None of the aluminum is visible with the piano in its normal
configuration (i.e. knee panel on)

Paul Bruesch
Stillwater, MN


On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 4:39 PM, <wimblees at aol.com> wrote:

> Chet
>
> If they are broken, it's the cast iron stem that usually breaks. A welder
> should be able to weld the stem back together. I have done that many times.
>
> Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
> Piano Tuner/Technician
> Mililani, Oahu, HI
> 808-349-2943
> Author of:
> The Business of Piano Tuning
> available from Potter Press
> www.pianotuning.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chet Kieffer <pianotuner at nedernet.net>
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Sent: Mon, 11 May 2009 9:58 am
> Subject: [pianotech] Gulbransen pedals
>
> Does anyone out there have a set of Gulbransen spinet pedals circa 1948?
> Please contact me off list.
>
>
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