[pianotech] unusual lyre joint

[Mike Spalding]

I brought home a Kimball lyre to repair:  loose joints, top and bottom.  
The lower joints (post to pedal box) were more or less conventional 
round tenons, on which the epoxy is currently curing.  The top joint is 
one I've never seen in a piano before.  Did I mention the piano is a 
former player?  Anyway, the post has a square tenon which fits very 
loosely into a 3-sided mortice in the top block, and is secured with a 
tapered dowel.  Well, it was at one time.  The tapered dowels had been 
replaced with steel machine screws, so the whole thing was really 
floppy.  I roughed out a couple of tapered dowels and fitted them in the 
holes, and I'm not satisfied with the way the joint fits together.  The 
main problem is that with the dowels in place, the top block is held 
almost 2mm above the shoulders of the posts.  I'm considering whether to 
plug and re-drill the dowel holes in the posts, or build up the block to 
meet the shoulders.  I'm also considering drilling out the tapered holes 
and using a straight dowel.  Anybody ever seen this joint before?  Any 
insights or free advice?

thanks

Mike
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Erickson Kimball Lyre 004.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 45117 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20111212/035eff1c/attachment-0001.jpg>