Friends, Yesterday I worked for hours on a 1974 Baldwin spinet that had been long neglected -- replacing all donut grommets and regulating lost motion, replacing a torn string, tightening screws, cleaning, etc. I had done a pitchraise and tuning at a previous appointment. The bridge cap was unglued for the top four notes A7 and up and broken loose as well. Although I am not skilled at bridge repairs, I thought this looked simple enough to glue in place. Stupid me. I got the action and strings out of the way and checked the positioning. OK, I guess, although if I pushed the piece together at the crack, the cap didn't line up with the bridge. My strategy was to put glue on the piece and hold it in place by putting the strings under tension until it dried. Not smart, especially if there is negative bearing, which I soon learned. So I held the piece in place while drilling a pilot hole for a screw. I wasn't surprised that when I tightened the screw, it pulled the piece out of proper position. I didn't really have room to drill straight in since the keybed and frame were in the way. Grrr! I left it that way to dry, told the owners I will need to return to finish up, and went home very tired and blue. It is a repair I hope no one ever knows I did. In retrospect, I think I should have used CA glue with accelerator, but I was concerned about it drying too quickly for me to get it properly positioned. Okay, so you guys with lots of experience, how would you have handled this? I'm still open to learning. A couple last questions. The bridge cap is now a little farther down than it should be, maybe 2mm. Will the added string length cause the strings to tear when I bring them up to pitch? And if they do, should I try replacing them with thicker or thinner strings? They're size 13 now. It seems that a thicker string would have more strength, but I'm not that good at physics. Would a thinner string be better? (I don't stock thinner string.) I'm eager for your responses, and I hope I don't have a day like yesterday for a long time to come! Regards, Clyde
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