Pinblock Plugs

[jolly roger]

At 07:05 AM 3/13/01 -0500, you wrote:
>The epoxy I have used, and I believe what Roger Jolly uses, is West System
>epoxy - and the entire philosophy of its engineering is to bond wood. It was
>originally designed for cold molding wooden boats together. West System
>becomes one with the wood.

Hi Terry,
              You are correct, I use either West System, or Another brand
Cold Cure. And have had excellent results with both.
I have made effective repairs with smaller sized plugs,  than the 1/2" on
some pianos that have small plate holes.  Drilled the block to size of a #6
tuningpin. turned a plug on the lathe, to suit, redrill for a #2 pin.
And all worked fine.
I have have found there  is quite a bit of wicking type action with the
West system  product. 

When using it for bridge pins, it is common to see the some of the glue
sqeezing up the side of an adjacent pin. If there is any cavity in the
material it will find and seal it.
On many of our major jobs we change bridge pins and lightly swab the holes
with epoxy, the bridge pins may look secure, but it is always suprising to
watch how the  when inserting the pin the epoxy bubbles in an adjacent
hole.   This treatment really reduces the number of false strings.
Before destringing, we carefully listen to individual strings, move the
string out of the V bar cup and seat at the bridge.  this will help to
determine weather to change the pins and swab the holes. 
I think this teatment may reduce the effect of humidity swings on the pins
and holes, but I have no evidence to prove this. Just a gut feel. <G>

I do know solid termination is a must for optimum power and sustain.

Any one else tried this?

Roger