Bridges; was: Plate Horn

[Farrell]

Wow! That's a question from a totally unfamiliar angle! All the pianos that 
have gone through my shop get a new redesigned soundboard, new bridges (new 
root, everything - because of string rescaling), new laminated bridge caps, 
etc., etc.

So, as long as I have a new bridge root loose from the soundboard, it is an 
easy matter to simply notch the bridges before you glue/bond the bridge root 
to the soundboard.

Indeed, if one were to want to notch a bridge of some very hard material, 
that would be a problem. But I suppose, that is a good application for a cap 
with thicker laminations - as I stated, not a whole lot harder to notch with 
a chisel.

And regarding your comment "Since you're using a cap I suppose that you are 
not removing the bridge root from the piano." What do you mean by that? What 
does using a bridge cap have to do with using an original bridge root or a 
new bridge root?

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Newell" <gnewell@ameritech.net>

> Terry,
>         Since your using a cap I suppose that you are not removing the 
> bridge root from the piano. How do you propose to get into the tighter 
> areas with the bridge notching machine?
>
> Greg Newell
>
>
>
> At 08:34 AM 7/13/2005, you wrote:
>>Dale Erwin wrote:
>>Is This so really much more difficult to notch with a really sharp  chisel 
>>than a plain old good hard piece of tight grain stock?
>>    Dale
>>
>>Dale asked that question regarding notching a six-lamination maple bridge 
>>cap. I would say that it is a bit more difficult. These laminations are 
>>about 1-1/2 millimeters thick, so the notch only cuts into two or three 
>>laminations typically - that is only crossing one or two epoxy lines. So 
>>yes, it is more difficult, but not at all unmanageable - as long as you 
>>keep the laminations thick enough.
>>
>>Why do you ask - does my notching look THAT bad?
>>
>>But, 1) because I have no talent whatsoever for hand notching, and 2) 
>>because I wish to explore building harder bridge caps in the future, I 
>>think a good notching machine will benefit me immensely. I want to try 
>>building caps using thinner laminations and possibly harder material.
>>
>>Terry Farrell
>
> Greg Newell
> Greg's piano Forté