[pianotech] Pinblock Separation

[Terry Farrell]

I've twisted some pretty darn large C clamps in the past. Pipe clamps work really well.

Terry Farrell

On Jan 11, 2013, at 9:00 AM, Ron Nossaman wrote:

> On 1/10/2013 8:34 AM, Wesley Hardman wrote:
>> The piano is a Kimball studio.  The pinblock has separated from the
>> frame with a huge, visible crack from one end to the other. A highly
>> reputable manufacturer says this separation will not affect the ability
>> of the piano to hold a tune and is only cosmetic and could be filled
>> with a filler of some kind and then sanded down.  What is your take on this?
> 
> This indicates to me how little relationship there is between respect and factual information. This is structural and ought to be fixed.
> 
> You've already gotten enough conflicting information to doubt anything anyone says at this point, but this is what I've done for many years.
> 
> Unless someone has tried to raise the pitch with the back loose, you don't need to lower pitch. You also don't need to lay it down. Put a tarp or plastic under the piano (an end at a time) to catch any escaped glue. Remove the lid. Using big C clamps or pipe clamps, slowly and uniformly draw the crack together with glue inside. I use Titebond, but it doesn't really matter because the glue isn't what holds the thing together, it's the bolts. So use whatever glue you would prefer to clean up after. Removing one bolt at a time, I drill 3/8" holes through and insert carriage bolts from the rear. To keep the bolt heads from sinking into a soft back, a large washer that fits over the square part of the shank is used under the head. Nice and neat, though no one will see it. Snug up each bolt and move to the next one until you have them all in. Tighten all the bolts and remove the clamps. You can pull it up to pitch immediately and tune it. Make an appointment for a follow up tuning like with any pitch raise. Charge the same as the guys who spend all day or multiple trips doing it and you have a pretty good wage for a couple of hours of work, and a solid repair.
> Ron N