Broken bottom board on Upright

[Lkunsky257@aol.com]

Dear Chris,

I recently reglued a bottom board with 2 major cracks and I didn't have to
relocate the screws even though the cracks went right through them.  Here's
what I did:  I removed the bottom board and took off all the pedal hardware.
 I cleaned up the wood with steel wool and planed the edges that had spit
(they were old glue joints and the board was made of 3 pieces of wood. One of
the pieces had shrunk more than the others.  It was a good old Stark Upright
with nice wood.)   I got my pony clamps out and reglued the board and let it
set overnight.  Because I had planed the edges of the wood the screw holes
were now smaller and when I reinstalled the pedal hardware (after cleaning up
the new glue joints) everything was good and snug!   The piano is used
monthly for some rip roarin' folk music sing-alongs that frequently sound
like a revival meeting from the street!  It's been a couple of months and
It's holding solid.

There is a series of articles in our wonderful Journal, written by Don
Valley, RPT called "Behold the Upright"  the August 1994 Journal has one of
these articles on page 29 that addresses this very problem!!  Check it out!

Regards,

Laura Kunsky