Bridge cap materials

[Erwinspiano@aol.com]

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In a message dated 10/11/2002 8:52:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca writes:


> Subj:Re: Bridge cap materials 
> Date:10/11/2002 8:52:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time
> From:<A HREF="mailto:sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca">sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca</A>
> Reply-to:<A HREF="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A>
> To:<A HREF="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A>
> Sent from the Internet 
> 
>     Stephen

         Well out here on the west coast I guess it is > we don't have any. 
Dooms day stuff . Not at all. You must have a better supplier than Bolduc. 
His supplies are  predominatly wide grain. I can drive to S.F. and select it 
from  Macbeaths Lumber stores there but in the rough sawn condition it's hard 
to select grain orientation. Your in a better location for lumber than I.  
How and where do you buy your stock (names & addresses) and is it cut it some 
spec.etc.? The cost isn't that big a consideration since I probably do less 
than dozen sets of bridge caps a year. I'd gladly pay several hundred dollars 
for a good years worth.
    Thanks for the info.
            Dale Erwin

> 
> Dale writes:
> >With really good supply's of maple almost extinct
> 
> Come now, Dale. This sounds like doomsday stuff to me. I agree the supply 
> is low at the moment, hence the exhorbitant prices, but this sort of 
> ecological and economic swinging has been going on in the forest product 
> department for centuries. It's no big deal. A bridge cap hardly uses a lot 
> of maple. I haven't noticed it being difficult to get good quality rock 
> maple from my supplier - I can get as much as I want whenever I want (as 
> long as I don't mind paying for it).
> 
> >I find it more and more difficult to be happy about the wide grain and 
> >fairly soft stuff I get from my supplier.
> 
> Now it sounds like your supplier is trying to flog you soft maple 
> (different species) because it's still cheap. Are you asking for rock 
> maple?
> 
> >I'd like to see close grain and a strong medullary ray that comes from 
> >true 1/4 sawn stock but this a rare occurance.
> 
> Now this is a marketting issue. In North America it is traditionally, and 
> increasingly, difficult to get quarter sawn maple because almost all the 
> stuff is cut flat sawn for grain figure. There's nothing really new about 
> that,  although I expect the very high current bf price is influencing 
> lumber companies further in the flatsawn direction for high price cabinet 
> work etc. The poor piano bridge maker is left out in the cold.
> 
> If you want quarter sawn maple why not re-saw it yourself from the thickest 
> 
> piece of flatsawn maple you can find. You can get an ample supply for 
> bridge caps that way. I made a 2 1/2" thick solid quarter-sawn wrestplank 
> in hard maple that way, by vertically laminating three pieces cut from a 4" 
> 
> flatsawn stock. No big deal.
> 
> Another approach. Try European beech. It's 50% of the cost of domestic hard 
> 
> maple here in Canada, despite the shipping and importation costs. And 
> fabulous to work with. Just bought 150 board feet to make a work bench. 
> Better than hard maple. I expect it would be good for bridge caps. Is it 
> used in Europe?
> 
> Stephen
> 
> 
> Stephen Birkett Fortepianos
> Authentic Reproductions of 18th and 19th Century Pianos
> 464 Winchester Drive
> Waterloo, Ontario
> Canada N2T 1K5
> tel: 519-885-2228
> mailto: sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca
> http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~sbirkett
> 


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