Lyre repair

[AKarab@aol.com]

Recently I invested in a pair of Pony clamp's reversable style fittings for
3/4" (internal diameter) pipes.  Not every hardware store carries or knows
about these.  They mix and match easily with my regular Pony clamps so I can
slide the "fixed" and "crankable" ends of the clamp anywhere along my pipes.
 I find this immensely helpful in forcing lyres apart.  Of course, use wood
blocks over the clamp feet to protect the finish.  Crank up some pressure,
then rap with the rubber mallet, even whack on the dowell ends to push them
through, not the best option since it compresses the wood, but sometimes
needed.  Credit goes here to partner Jack Lofton who is good with a hammer.

Some lyre repairs I run into are not on old pianos, just poorly fitted
joints, or square joints with lots of polyester finish in them.  If finish is
in the joint, I try to remove anything that might lubricate the joint and
work against the glue.  Most of the joints I've seen have wedges driven in to
dowells (or squares), I cut new saw curfs (let the old wedges alone, many of
them are harder and faster than the "wood" they are driven into) and dry fit
new wedges, trying to guess how far they'll bury under pressure.  The last
one I did I drove 2 wedges in per "square dowell".  I use epoxee as it gives
lots of set up time (good thing, as more than once I have glued the whole
thing up, driven wedges and clamped up only to realize I had one end of the
lyre on upside down despite marking everything for orientation) (best advise,
don't talk to anyone while doing this part of the procedure)   The Epoxee
also fills gaps nicely.

Reverse the Pony clamps to clamp up and let sit overnight.  Use
reinstallation as an opportunity to check that the lyre braces hold the lyre
like a rock.

Audrey Karabinus,   Seattle