Lyre repair

[Newton Hunt]

Lyres with single wedges are glued togather.  The wedge acts to spread the top
of the tenon to prevent the seperation you are experiencing.  Drill out as much
of the old wedge as possible then knock the pieces apart.  Removed the rest of
the wedge with a saw and cut new hardwood wedges.  Dry fit the pieces to cut
the wedge to proper thickness.  It should not bottom when driven in.  Carefully
orient the parts to prevent reassembly errors, spread a liberal amount of glue,
I like 'Tite Bond', bar clamp the lyre togather, put glue on the wedges and
drive them in tight, real tight.

Lyres with double wedges are not glued togather, except for the wedges, and can
be nicely restored to tightness by clamping and then using a properly cut piece
of hardwood to drive the two wedges down to spread the end of the tenon.

These are not difficult repairs, they just take some time to disassemble and
reassemble all the parts.

      Newton
      nhunt@rci.rutgers.edu