loose lyre posts

[Ron Nossaman]

>List,
>I'm doing a bit of damper regulation and lyre repair on an old Fischer 
>grand. While the glue joints between the lyre posts to the pedal box 
>were  already pretty loose, and readily disassembled with a few wacks to 
>the interior of the pedal box, the glue joints of the posts at the top are 
>only slightly loose (one is almost rock solid). As you can see the posts' 
>dowels don't go all the way through to the lyre top block. If they did I 
>could just support the top block, pound on the dowels, and drive them out.
>Putting the posts in a vice and wacking on the block with a rubber hammer 
>hasn't done much either.
>Is there any likelihood that, since the dowels couldn't be wedged & glued 
>as they were in the pedal box, the post dowels are secured by horizontal 
>dowels underneath some veneer? How can they be this tight without a wedge 
>or dowel?
>I know some of you do this often -- helpful hints for quick disassembly?
>Patrick Draine


I'd guess a blind wedge like Joe said. It's hard for me to picture a 
manufacturer taking the trouble and expense of veneering over cross dowels 
for a lyre. I'd drill a 3/8" hole down from the top until I hit the top of 
the big dowel. Then, I'd pour in Titebond until the hole was nearly full, 
and drive in a 3/8"dowel, letting hydraulic pressure force the glue into 
the joint until enough glue squeezed out around the post underneath to 
convince me the joint was wet. And/or I'd drill 5/16" from the top at an 
angle to intersect the dowel about two inches up into the block from two 
directions and do the same.

Ron N