At 05:50 PM 3/17/99 -0700, you wrote: >I would appreciate suggestion concerning the pedal lyre on a Howard grand. >Made by Kawai for Baldwin. > >The two vertical stems (props? ) are both loose in the top & bottom >horizontal pieces. They have separated about 1 inch. What is the procedure >for repair? Just knock them completely apart, glue all surfaces, and >clamp? > >It appears there are wedges at the ends of the vertical stems. Are these >glued in? How does one remove them to reglue? On the inner surfaces that I >can see, it doesn't look like there was ever any glue on them. Are only the >wedge surfaces supposed to be glued? > >Thank you. > >dcp@sosinc.net >Don Price >816 Vickie >Ft. Morgan CO 80701 > > > Hi Don, Roger Jolly's suggestion works just fine, as does Jim Harvey's. Another alternative involves drilling a couple of 7/32" holes at the juncture of the lyre posts and the top block, about 3/4 of the way through the top block. Then fill the hole with Titebond and drive a hammer shank into the hole. You get a nice hydraulic ram effect that will force glue through the joint and out the bottom, where it will run down the posts and give you something to mop up when you're done. Do the same from the bottom. I will usually then drive a couple of drywall screws in the joint, down the glue line, in each post, top and bottom, to discourage movement between the participating parts and reinforce the joint. I happen to like mechanical fasteners in addition to glue wherever possible. This is the kind of repeat business I'd rather not see. The benefits of the method are that it's quick, doesn't stink, gives you a semi-legitimate use of those upright shanks that have too aberrant a grain angle to use in a piano, you get to whack something with a hammer (which can't be all bad), it is done on site, with minimum equipment and pathos, and you can be easily observed by the powers of administration and funds management in the act of driving screws - thus proving to all and sundry that the cost is justified and the fix is made. It also works pretty well. Ron
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