Bridge cap materials

[Mike and Jane Spalding]

In the journal reprint book on bridges and soundboards, there is an article by Bill Spurlock describing his method for using epoxy on bridgetops.  It goes in the holes before driving pins, then is spread over the top and the notches.   Lacquer thinner is then brushed over the top to remove excess resin, and to help the resin penetrate the wood.  Article's pretty old, don't know if he's still doing it this way.  At the time he said he was doing this to every piano he rebuilt, both on the original bridge and on replacements/recaps.

Mike Spalding RPT
> > 
> > 
> > Would impregnating the wood with epoxy solve all this?
> > It certainly would pevent moisture from getting into
> > it in the future, and one could make the epoxy quite
> > thin by a little lacquer thinner, or perhaps just a
> > little warmth to insure that the wood absorbed  it
> > well.
> >      Thump
> > 
> >              Yeah It probabbly wood. I think Bob hofs PTJ article on 
> > capping several years back stated he coats/dreches his bridge tops in 
> > shellac. The thought was to reinforce the fibers and I think he's on the 
> > right on track.  I coat/ seal my bridge notches with shellac followed by 2 
> > coats of lacquer hey but why not just use a hypo oiler to fill up the holes 
> > ,let dry hard overnight  before inserting the pins. Even maple is so porous 
> > the shellac would completly soak in. I like this idea. If  epoxy comes 
> > water thin like shellac wouldn,t that work too ?
> >        Dale Erwin
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