[pianotech] 1895 Kimball

[Ron Nossaman]

On 11/16/2010 5:42 PM, Terry Farrell wrote:

> I was trying to decide how to respond to Ron Nossaman's "Imagine" post
> regarding repairing a split bridge VS replacing. It seems to me there is
> a time & place for most everything. And IMHO, there are very appropriate
> applications for repairing a bridge with epoxy. However, in a case like
> this where the piano owner has decided to replace an entire set of bass
> strings - IMHO, if the piano is worth a new set of strings, it is worth
> a new bridge cap and/or and new bridge and/or a new apron (ouch! did I
> say that?), or better yet, move the bridge forward and eliminate the
> apron (hey, we're rescaling anyway.....).

There is a whole lot more to that than made it into my post. The photo 
posted of the Kimball bridge showed some relatively minor cracks that 
epoxy would firm up easily. The bridges I posted about were blown clear 
apart, and clearly should be replaced, but the decision was being made 
based on whether or not the owner wanted to spend any money. I don't see 
where it would be dramatically cheaper building an epoxy bridge in the 
existing crater, than to replace it with a new one of actual wood. The 
thing would likely as not fall to the bottom of the piano anyway when 
the string tension is let down, which makes the decision easier.

This is an 1895 Kimball that is getting just the bass strings replaced? 
I sure wouldn't worry too much about making changes to the bridge for 
scaling purposes with the rest of the 115 year old piano original. I 
would be concerned about the solidity of the apron and the glue joints 
between panel/apron/bridge. A bridge with "cat on a screen door" 
syndrome will sound like super dead tubby strings, when the strings may 
not be all that bad, but the bridge just isn't connected to the 
soundboard. Needs looked at.


> Whereas I agree that the potential exists that a good repair can be made
> with epoxy (really need to see pics), why would you say that the bass
> bridge SHOULD be repaired with epoxy?

I agree. I'd call this one an either/or under the circumstances, 
contingent on the above observations.


>> I advise that you do the recalculating
>> yourself or have a good scaler do it.*
>
> Glad to see we agree on some things!!! ;-)

I advise a good scaler.
Ron N