Recently acquired an amazingly well preserved Kohler & Campbell art case console made in 1969. To look at it, you would think that it could have been made yesterday! It has never been played, thus the hammers are unmarked after almost 40 years! Even the wooden wedge was still screwed in securing the big panel (some call it the kick panel?) above the pedals! Anyway, the pitch was (not surprisingly) grossly flat--close to 140 cents at A4! I checked all the plate bolts and they were 90% snug, needing maybe 1/8 turn to totally snug them back down. The tuning pins were found to be all uniformly tight, and responded beautifully to minute, incremental adjustments. The pitch came right up to A440 after the first pass, and after letting it settle for a while I gave it its first tuning in nearly four decades. 140 cents pitch raise in one pass? That's better than a 50-cent overpull. Pretty steep, yes? I followed that with two more fine tunings to make it as solid as possible for the time being. Ok, now to get to the main reason for my post; There is, what appears to be a separation, not really a crack but a perfectly clean separation at least 2-3' behind the pinblock laminations, that runs the entire width of the pinblock. As I stated the pins are uniformly tight, the laminations sound, and the plate bolts tight. Also, I wanted to know the depth of the separation, which ranges from maybe 1/2-1 millimeter wide at the very most, so I used a very thin piece of steel and found that it was only about 1/4'-1/2' deep. Should this flaw be cause for concern, Yes. Concern enough to monitor the situation. or is it likely not going to affect the stability? That's what needs to be determined. It may be just fine. Or, with the added string tension, the top of the plate will bend forward tonight and the owners will hear a big bang in the middle of the night..... or not. The tuning seems to be holding, but then I just finished it maybe an hour ago so... Monitor the situation. Would it maybe help to 'fill' this crevice with thin west systems epoxy, until it fills the area, then just let it dry and move on, or would that just be a waste of time and epoxy? Or maybe Gap filling CA? Of course, it would take quite a of CA to fill a 56' long, 1/2' deep cevice! Thoughts and advice would be appreciated! Personally, I'd just monitor things. Measure the gap (width and depth) and mark its extents. Next time you tune the piano, measure the pinblock situation and evaluate any changes. Also check the pitch carefully for clues as to whether movement has occurred. IMHO, from what you have described, I would not recommend doing anything until I determine that the crack is getting bigger and/or the piano pitch is dropping unusually fast. Hope this helps. Terry Farrell ----- Original Message ----- Recently acquired an amazingly well preserved Kohler & Campbell art case console made in 1969. To look at it, you would think that it could have been made yesterday! It has never been played, thus the hammers are unmarked after almost 40 years! Even the wooden wedge was still screwed in securing the big panel (some call it the kick panel?) above the pedals! Anyway, the pitch was (not surprisingly) grossly flat--close to 140 cents at A4! I checked all the plate bolts and they were 90% snug, needing maybe 1/8 turn to totally snug them back down. The tuning pins were found to be all uniformly tight, and responded beautifully to minute, incremental adjustments. The pitch came right up to A440 after the first pass, and after letting it settle for a while I gave it its first tuning in nearly four decades. I followed that with two more fine tunings to make it as solid as possible for the time being. Ok, now to get to the main reason for my post; There is, what appears to be a separation, not really a crack but a perfectly clean separation at least 2-3' behind the pinblock laminations, that runs the entire width of the pinblock. As I stated the pins are uniformly tight, the laminations sound, and the plate bolts tight. Also, I wanted to know the depth of the separation, which ranges from maybe 1/2-1 millimeter wide at the very most, so I used a very thin piece of steel and found that it was only about 1/4'-1/2' deep. Should this flaw be cause for concern, or is it likely not going to affect the stability? The tuning seems to be holding, but then I just finished it maybe an hour ago so... Would it maybe help to 'fill' this crevice with thin west systems epoxy, until it fills the area, then just let it dry and move on, or would that just be a waste of time and epoxy? Or maybe Gap filling CA? Of course, it would take quite a of CA to fill a 56' long, 1/2' deep cevice! Thoughts and advice would be appreciated! PS: See the pics. Terry Peterson ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Café. 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