Pinblock/Frame Separation

[Farrell]

Hello List Friends. I ran into a pinblock separated from the frame on a 1967
45" Baldwin Hamilton studio upright today. I have done this repair
previously, but only with  1/8" or smaller cracks. This puppy is slightly
more than 1/2" separation in the hi treble, tapering down to just less than
1/2" separation in the low bass. This strikes me as being a BIG separation.
I plan on replacing the eight 5/8" dia. wood screws along the top edge of
the plate with 6" long 5/8" dia. bolts that will run through the whole
plate/pinblock/frame assembly. I will also put West System epoxy thickened
with their gap-filling, hi-density filler between the two separated surfaces
before drawing the whole assembly together with the eight thru-bolts and
several pipe clamps.

I have four questions:

1) The plate is bent forward quite a bit - especially in the hi treble. If
you draw a line from the pressure bar in the     high treble, extending out
to the edge of the plate, this is where most of the bend occurrs (at the
base of the     pinblock). Question: when I draw the pinblock/plate back to
its original position against the frame, do I risk         cracking the
plate?

2) Today I let the tension down on the strings because of the BIG
separation. The piano was a full half-step flat     upon my arrival. I let
it down to three half-steps flat in bass and tenor, and two full steps flat
in treble. Are             there any guidelines for letting it down any more
or less prior to drawing the pinblock/plate back to the
frame?

3) There are broken chunks of wood (big splinters, etc.) debris lying
between the pinblock back and the frame     front. The debris is from the
screw holes as the screw threads were pulled forward out of the frame as the
plate/pinblock moved forward. Some of the debris is at the base of the
pinblock, about 8 inches down from     the top of the pinblock. I feel the
need to get this stuff out before repairing because it will tend to limit my
ability to draw the pinblock/plate to the frame. All I can think of is
coathanger technology. Anybody have any     better ideas????

4) How long does this entire repair take you to complete (three service
calls - one to diagnose and measure,         etc., a second to do the repair
and leave clamps in place for epoxy to cure, and a third to remove clamps
and pitch raise)?

Thanks for any and all constructive input!  :-)  (I like smiley and winky
and frowny faces!)

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com