Cracked Steinway lid

[A440A@aol.com]

Bob writes: 
 
>I have a client with a cracked lid on her 1873 Steinway. I would 
>appreciate ANY comments you have. The lid is cracked through the veneers 
>on both sides, from the tail to about a foot from the front lid. It looks 
>like there is only the veneer layer on the core, rather than crossbanding 
>and then the veneer (rosewood), but that would be most unusual and I could 
>easily be wrong about that. My first guess is that the lid will have to be 
>split on through, then glued back with biscuit joints, then the lid 
refinished. >>

Greetings, 
   I don't know about the biscuits.  If you can break the lid all the way 
through,(carefully),  you should be able to use the West System epoxy to glue the 
two halves back together with virtually no seam showing.  One of the 
beautiful things about rosewood is that is is very easy to disguise repairs with a 
little faux wood graining.  
  I have a dining room table made from an Chickering square grand.  Instead 
of living with the hinged top, I had a woodworker friend use his massive joiner 
to clean up the edges and butt joint the two halves together.  He used West 
System epoxy and the joint is invisible under a gloss coat.  To the best of my 
knowledge, he didn't use dowels or biscuits, but simply clamped them up under 
pressure with long bar clamps plus flattening battens to keep it level.  It 
has lasted through two children's abuse and nary a sign of separation.  
   If you can break it without losing any of the veneer, it shouldn't be a 
problem to re-align the pieces, just clear any internal splinters, first. 
Good luck, 



Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html