Thanks, David. I appreciate your replies. I have a few questions, which I have interspersed among your comments (which I reordered for the continuity of my questions). > From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos at comcast.net> > Date: January 20, 2010 9:46:12 AM EST > > 2. Paint bridge top with thin epoxy and lightly swab old bridge pin holes > with toothpick to resize and support holes for redrilling. > ... > 4. Redrill holes for new bridge pin sizes and then recut notches. Drill > for #7 in treble, #7 or #8 in tenor, #8 in high bass, #9 in low bass. > ... > It's important not to try and drill the > holes until after the epoxy treatment to avoid chipping. I replace all #6 > pins with #7 pins. Although I have "gone up" in bridge pin size when repinning on some occasions, I have usually done so in the tenor and/or bass. I am interested to learn that you do it in the high treble as well. I haven't, out of concern about the rather slender bits of wood between the bridge pin holes up there. As an example, the S&S B in the shop at the moment has #6 bridge pins in the treble (.076), and the "lands" between them average only about .074 (you can barely fit a #6 bridge pin between less than half of the pin pairs). Going up to #7 (.086) would leave only about .064 of wood between the holes. I grouped your comments above together, because they point to the use of epoxy as a strengthening agent, allowing larger holes to be used with smaller "lands" of wood between them. I hadn't thought of that. Now, when you redrill the holes, you presumably remove some or most of the epoxy (for instance, Pianotek recommends an .081 bit for #7 pins, and the holes must have originally been slightly enlarged .076+). So, is it your understanding that the epoxy wicks into the wood in sufficient quantity to remain in and strengthen the "lands" that are left after redrilling? > 5. Repin the bridge. Set the pin heights by tapping them down to uniform > height, don't file them.... When you do this, how do you handle intersecting bridge pin holes (as can happen along the most curved part of the bridge)? It makes sense to keep the longer pins in the front (since it is the most important termination area). If you shorten the back ones, how do you do it? Cutting them deforms the cut end, which would be terrible for the integrity of the hole. I suppose you could grind them.... > 6. Shoot the bridge top with clear lacquer. A couple of light coats. You > don't want a huge build up of lacquer. > From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos at comcast.net> > Date: January 20, 2010 5:03:16 PM EST > > > Correct that. Actually I recut the notches before I apply the epoxy > coating. That way the notches get sealed as well. Then I redrill and then > lightly sand the bridge top to smooth out any roughness in the epoxy. Then > repin, CA, coat with lacquer.... Is the purpose of the lacquer for UV protection (as William Monroe suggested in his post), or for another purpose? If I understand you correctly, the bridge top and notches have already been coated with epoxy. Am I correct that the bridge pins get lightly coated with lacquer, as well? Thanks again, Joe DeFazio Pittsburgh -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100121/9951744e/attachment.htm>
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