Bridge Pin Drilling

[Tony Court]

Hi Terry,
Had this one a few times myself. Epoxy generally won't shatter, it's too
tough and isn't brittle. Just push the pins in while the epoxy is still
wet........no need to redrill, and every thing usually works out fine for me
this way. There may be trouble counting votes in Florida, but it is beyond
most Brits to count beyond $5.00 when it comes to spending on pianos!
----- Original Message -----
From: Farrell <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2000 8:20 PM
Subject: Bridge Pin Drilling


> I have refurbished bridges with small cracks next to the bridge pins
> successfully using epoxy. In these cases the position of the original
bridge
> pin hole was quite evident. I will be repairing a bass bridge on a 1937
> Mathushek Spinet Grand (this piano - what a hoot! - pretty good shape) in
> the near future. The speaking length side bicord pins have all cracked the
> bridge top and all moved over like little dominoes, such that there is a
> continuous crack all along the pin line. The bicord bass strings are
> straight over the bridge, there is no dogleg as there should be across the
> bridge top because of the pin movement due to the cracked bridge top. I
know
> the best thing to do is recap. This is out of the question due to
financial
> considerations.
>
> I plan on repairing the disturbed wood with West System epoxy thickened
with
> their hi-density adhesive filler. I can only imagine that I will largely
> fill the original bridge pin holes in the process - in fact it would be
much
> easier to simply fill the entire crack along with the original bridge pin
> holes. OK, so now I need to redrill for new bridge pins. Do I drill a
little
> bit large and set the pin in epoxy. Or do I drill with an appropriate
sized
> drill in the same manner I would drill a hole in a new bridge for the
bridge
> pin.
>
> My concern is whether drilling a bridge-pin-sized hole in epoxy will yield
> the same snug fit for the bridge pin as it would in maple. I fear that it
> might crack/shatter/goof-up the epoxy and not yield a snug pin fit. Simply
> drilling and pounding a new pin would be easiest, but I think drilling a
> slightly oversized hole and setting the new pin in a second addition of
thin
> epoxy is the best way to do it. Waddayathink.
>
> Just sittin' here twiddling thumbs in Florida 'cause the judge told us to
> stop countin' ballots
> Terry Farrell
> Piano Tuning & Service
> Tampa, Florida
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
>
>