TUNERJIM writes: I've had good luck with dowels inserted horizontally through both members. Last week I had the challenge of repairing the lyre on a Steinert (imitation Steinway) grand. The upper member, which mounts to the bottom of the keybed, had broken years ago. (This was probably because the lyre was mounted without the diagonal braces once upon a time.) A functional repair was done by gluing up the fracture and reinforcing the whole business with two half-inch wooden dowels going front-to-back into this upper member. The dowels were not carefully spaced, and each intersected an upright member of the lyre, one just barely. Well, the original mortise & tenon joints failed - as they so often do. However, in this case, the joint was locked together (but not very tightly) by the dowels, rendering disassembly difficult. I bored out the dowels, disassembled the lyre, then repaired in the usual fashion. When all was sound again, I decided to replace the dowels. (Maybe the earlier technician had reason to doubt the strength of his repair?!) I rebored the holes, this time going all the way through. Cut two half-inch steel dowels (Old Elmer used to call 'em 'Sweedish Dowels'.) to length and drove them in _without glue_. Ship builders call these "drifts", and they work just like giant nails. They will hold forever with just their friction fit, and they're tremendously strong. Best of all: Should they need to be removed again, they may be driven out with a hammer and punch. Another idea I've used is to drill holes just a little bit under-sized for a tuning pin through the upper member and into the upright members. Then tuning pins can be driven in to reinforce the joint. If these are left protruding half an inch (or whatever) they can be removed later by unscrewing them. - Tom McNeil - Vermont Piano Restorations
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