[pianotech] Baldwin console separated pinblock

[Ron Nossaman]

On 6/9/2012 9:38 PM, paul bruesch wrote:

> 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.

You get washers that fit over the square shank under the head of the 
carriage bolt, and it works very well. Low profile too.


> 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.

You could have done the pitch raise and tuning as usual with no problem 
as soon as the bolts are tight. The bolts are doing the work, and the 
glue just sort of fills the gaps in the crack so it looks like a repair.


> 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.

The big lesson here is to not do repeated mystery pitch raises over 
short time spans. Verify why the pitch is dropping, and you'll find a 
structural failure of some sort.

What's the felt for? To hide the woodwork, naturally.
Ron N