Bridge caps

[Greg Newell]

Ron,
    I'm still not clear on why all the fuss with the two rails affixed the
soundboard when something could be attached to the router base. Sort of like
a router riding on stilts.  Does this make any sense?

Greg

Ron Overs wrote:

> Greg,
>
> You wrote;
>
> >. . . . .
> >A few months later I was looking at Ron Overs web page where he was
> >recapping a bridge by routing quite a good ways down. . .  Now I
> >think I saw 2 rails on either side of the bridge for the router to ride
> >on. Is that right?
>
> Yes you did.
>
> >If that is the case, would you not experience the
> >same difficulty following an unpredictable crown in the board? I was
> >thinking, (dangerous ... especially for me), why not attach the rails
> >directly onto the underside of the router plate and let it ride on that.
>
> Firstly, the rails are attached to the board via masking tape which
> first covers the sound board panel, and then body filler repair putty
> (for car body repair) which attaches the rails to the masking tape
> (which has been de-waxed with thinner prior to its application.
>
> >More like a sort of free hand approach. Would this be unstable? Would it
> >possibly eliminate a straight rail not mating quite so perfectly to a
> >crowned board?
>
> The procedure is very easy. The lower edge of the rails are roughly
> planed to the curvature of the board prior to installation. The
> height of the rails are set slightly higher than the required
> finished height also prior to installation. After installation, the
> rail height is scraped and finished to that height required for
> removal of a predetermined height of the original bridge.
>
> >In your drying process are you left with a completely
> >flat board and therefore this is not an issue? If this is the case how
> >do you maintain the moisture content of the board while you are
> >performing the various procedures on the bridge? If you followed a
> >crowned board then would you have difficulty attaching a replacement cap
> >to what would then be a crowned bridge base? Does any of this make any
> >sense or am I just spitting into the wind again? Thanks!
>
> Even if you end up with a slight convex curve in the machined surface
> of the bridge, as is often the case, the new bridge cap will flex
> easily to fit. The curve will always be very slight and uniform. Ron
> N raised this issue a few months ago when referring to the fit of
> flat-planed bridge bases, when fitting them to the curved sound board
> panel. Again, no problem, the bridge cap will pretty much follow the
> profile of the board with a slight backward tilt.
>
> Hope this answers your question.
>
> We're doing some other new stuff with bridge caps recently. Still
> checking reliability of the new stuff as yet, so far it's looking
> good.
>
> Ron O
> --
> Overs Pianos
> Sydney Australia
> ________________________
>
> Web site: http://www.overspianos.com.au
> Email:     mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au
> ________________________

--
Greg Newell
Greg's Piano Forté
12970 Harlon Ave.
Lakewood, Ohio 44107
216-226-3791
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net