Stwy pinblock separation...I'm desperate!

[Lance Lafargue]

I'm not sure I understand clearly..  In addition to replacing the existing
plate screws with bolts, I also drill through the plate, block, etc with
additional bolts.  For the area where you have little to grab with the
clamp-- can you wedge something (like a solid 1"x1" block of maple or
metal)  to help contact between pins,etc?  Injecting epoxy alone would not
be my choice.  Good luck.  Relax, it'll be over soon and you'll have a
story to tell!!
Lance Lafargue, RPT
New Orleans Chapter
Covington, LA.
lafargue@iamerica.net

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> From: Pianotek@aol.com
> To: pianotech@byu.edu
> Subject: Stwy pinblock separation...I'm desperate!
> Date: Friday, April 18, 1997 12:33 PM
>
> Dear fellow PTG colleagues,
> 	Please Help!
> 	I have a customer whose Steinway studio is suffering from
pinblock/backframe
> separation. There's a gap roughly in the center area [tenor/midrange] of
at
> most 1/8 inch extending along the length of the block about 1 foot or so.
> Normally, I'd send some Titebond down into the gap w/ a thin
> feeler/knife/s.b. steel and then replace and/or supplement the plate
screws
> with 5/16 x 5 or 6 inch bolts sent all the way thru the back of the
piano,
> clamp the whole thing with pipe or c clamps and return in a day or 2 to
> remove the clamps. I generally have been able to do this without lowering
the
> pitch and so far have not had any callbacks. The Steinway however has no
room
> for introducing any bolts and has hardly any margin above the pin area
for
> clamps to grab the plate. The t pin field in this center section [between
the
> tenor break and the first plate screw in the treble section] is quite
> congested with the top row of pins right along the top edge of the plate.
> 	Can I just clamp [if I could find room to adequately position the
clamps]
> the p.b. to the back frame and hope it would hold without the use of lag
> bolts? Or should I, as a trusted colleague of mine suggested, simply [?]
> introduce a band of epoxy into the gap to forestall further separation
[he
> suggested that I create a dam inside [toward the bottom of] the gap to
> prevent epoxy from seeping into the tuning pin holes]?
> 	Your help in answering or forwarding this to whomever might provide some
> insight would be greatly appreciated, especially as I'd like to do it
> correctly the FIRST time and not suffer failure/callbacks. My customer is
> waiting for my response to her so I'm kind of desperate for an expedient
> response.
> 	Sincerely appreciating your help in advance,
> 	Sol Kohen, RPT [pianotek@aol.com]