[pianotech] Baldwin console separated pinblock

[paul bruesch]

I just did my first separated pinblock repair today. It's one I queried the
list about last year, wondering why I kept having to do a major pitch raise
every year.

I had a few experiences that I had not read about here, over the years, so
I'd like to share.

First thing I did was to drop pitch "somewhat" in order to compensate for
the pitch raises I'd done on my previous three annual visits, and who knows
how much it had been p/r'd in years prior. What I did know what that I had
a 5/32" gap at the treble end and 7/32" gap at the bass.

When I ripped off the felt (what's that for, anyhow?) I noted right off
that the crack was NOT in a nice straight line, rather, about a third of
the way from the treble end, it made a detour around the back of the back
post. Just delightful. Oh, and the crack was at least 1/4" in the center...
but I never measured it.

I started trying to clamp the gap closed with one 1/2" pipe clamp on each
side of a given lag screw. That worked at the treble end screw, but not on
the others. So, I dropped pitch "a little more". Still no. I was panicking
by this point... thinking how I'd made a total mess of Leonard's piano.
What to do. Drop pitch again. A LOT. It was amazing how easily everything
pulled together then!

I had decided against using carriage bolts due to not being able to put a
washer on it, and hearing stories of it digging into the wood on the back.
I did only have standard washers for my 5/16" bolts. They dug in like
crazy. Went to the hardware store and bought big fender washers. Worked
great.

Loosened all my newly-drilled/inserted bolts and squirted the crack full of
Titebond. (All the cold hide glue at the hardware store was outdated, and
Lowe's and Menard's don't seem to carry cold hide.) That bottle nozzle
really works well for that!  Then I used a broken hack saw blade (don't
ask) to spread it around in the crack. Clamped tight by each bolt,
tightened each bolt.

I left the pitch where it was for now. I decided that it won't hurt to give
the Titebond a couple days to set, mainly because the bottle says not to
stress the joint for 24 hours. I'll go back on Monday and hope for the
best.

I was a bit apprehensive about doing this, but reasonably confident given
all the helpful tips I had gleaned from this list. As mentioned, I did
start to get a bit freaked when I couldn't pull the crack closed. But now
that it's done I'm ready for my next one and anticipate that it should go
much more smoothly. Thankfully, there are no others in queue that I'm aware
of.

Paul Bruesch
Stillwater, MN
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