Bridge Disaster, Part Deux

[Susan Kline]

Hi, Alan

I hadn't connected on the fact (?) that this -- thing -- is out of the 
piano and in your shop? And you've already made a template with the correct 
string spacing?

If so, I'm with Ron. Just rout it down, and put a nice maple cap on it. 
Bevel instead of notch. You can even up the string spacing using dividers.

I think it would be easier just to rout down to clean wood and epoxy on a 
new cap, instead of raising the whole bridge by shimming up the apron. You 
might consider whether just replacing the whole apron might be easier than 
tangling with what you've got. hmmmmmm, that would leave you with an inch 
or so of bridge body as the only salvaged original material. Heck, maybe 
this is your change to take some pinblock material and learn how to build a 
whole bridge from it! It's straight, not that large, etc.

If I'm wrong, and this -- thing -- is still in the piano, I would leave it 
in the piano and cobble along the lines I described.

As for the damaged board under the bridge apron -- yes, hardwood would be 
better. Is this sucker thing original? Or has some ham-handed idiot been in 
there before you arrived?

Susan

P.S. Don't groan over the financial aspect of this job: just place it into 
the "education" pigeon-hole, and be glad you can do your teething on a 
piano of little or no value.


At 01:43 PM 8/2/2005 -0500, you wrote:

>After removing the strings, I ran thread from end to end for each string 
>location and marked my pattern where it crossed the bridge. For those 
>interested, my "technique" is described below.
>
>The second picture shows the extreme damage that excessive side bearing 
>has done. Most of the string lift you all have spotted in the overhead 
>pictures is due to the pressure ridges along the (laugh, snort) pin line.
>
>One thought to fix this would be to plane the bridge down a couple of 
>laminations (about 3/16") then plug holes, epoxy holes and any remaining 
>damage, sand, mark pins and drill, bevel, and dag the top. Then, since the 
>board between the apron and the soundboard was damaged, as I said, replace 
>this board with one 1/4" thicker to raise the overall height back. This 
>just seems faster than fabricating a cap or new bridge.
>
>Questions:
>
>1. How much trouble could this get me into?
>
>2. Should that new board—in any case—be made with a denser wood than the 
>original, which I believe to be pine? Seems like the energy transfer would 
>be better.
>
>3. Is my incredible lack of rebuilding knowledge and experience showing? 
>Never mind, that one I know.
>
>Alan Barnard
>Salem, Missouri
>
>I tied thread through a felt punching for the top termination; put the 
>thread through another punching (hole reamed larger) without tying it and 
>attached it to a weight. Then I could put the punchings on the top pin 
>(what ARE those called?) held by a clip and the hitch pin, pull the thread 
>taut at the bottom (the weight resting on the piano bottom keeps it taut), 
>then I use one of my indispensable tools, the 5-in-One painters tool to 
>mark the string line across the bridge. See pix.
>
>
>
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