My legs are giving me a headache.

[Roger Jolly]

HI Rob,
             If you can gain access to a horizontal boring machine, or a
Shop Smith.
Cut the broken dowel flush and bore a 2 X4" hole in the top of the leg,
bore out the remanants in the console.
Turn a 2"X 9" dowel from a block of maple, cut one end to accept a shim.
Glue the pieces together, I would use 5min epoxy, heat it with a hair
drier, it will go to the consistancy of water and fill any voids.
Really clean up the top of the leg and the bottom of the console and use a
fair bit of clamping pressure to gain some strength from the butt portion
of the joint.
Roger 




At 04:46 PM 30/11/99 -0600, you wrote:
>Howdy,
>
>I have had a not so fun afternoon.  When I reported to the
>performing arts center this morning I was told that the tail leg
>on the Steinway had busted off.  I quickly ran down to check.
>Sure enough there it was, sadly slumped over like a drunk piano
>player.  The remains was laying on the floor, broken clean
>through the dowel at the base.  Of course the bad news couldn't
>end there.  That piano is needed for a concerto competition on
>Thursday.
>
>Perhaps it could be fixed if enough shop effort was put into it
>but at his particular moment I don't have that kind of time.  I
>got on the phone today to see if I could get Steinway to send a
>new leg via Fed-Ex.  No dice, it would take weeks.  Under the
>circumstances for now it looks like we are going to temporarily
>move a piano in from another location.
>
>These legs have extra large wheels somewhat like a Hamburg.
>Never previously needing to know or care I was under the
>impression that someone simply put the larger wheels on the
>original legs.  Upon closer inspection, however, I see now that
>these legs are in fact different then a normal Steinway leg.
>This would of course make sense because the larger diameter wheel
>would otherwise raise the piano too high.  Cutting down a normal
>Steinway leg would look strange to say the least.  Although the
>face plate portion seems normal the actual legs are shorter.
>Clearly these legs are specifically designed for large wheels.
>Thus now I'm attempting to determine the origin of these legs.
>Does Steinway sell Hamburg legs in lacquer finish for New York
>pianos?
>
>Rob Goodale, RPT
> 
Roger Jolly
Saskatoon, Canada.
306-665-0213
Fax 652-0505