[pianotech] Pinblock Cracks; CA or Epoxy?

Terry Farrell mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com
Mon Nov 5 05:54:17 MST 2012


Are the cracks causing any problems? You mentions tuning pin torque is okay. If not causing problems, why do anything? It's impossible to tell for sure exactly how the cracks may have affected the integrity of the block, so I would recommend to pull the piano up to pitch and observe it over time. It's probably just fine. I'd question how well epoxy will even work as you have no idea how clean the edges of the cracks are. If it is a hide glue joint coming apart - how well does 140 year old hide glue adhere to epoxy?

Just curious - why did you tune it 300 cents flat? Why not bring it up?

Terry Farrell

On Nov 5, 2012, at 5:06 AM, David Boyce wrote:

> Thanks for all your responses folks.
> 
> The client at first sent me the photo, and I did think that as sometimes happens, it would only be a spliit in the birdseye veneer, and indeed I emailed that thought to him.
> 
> However, when I got there, using a fine broach as a 'depth guage', I found that the splits had depth varying from about a quarter of an inch, to three eigths of an inch.  
> 
> The piano had been in exactly the damp-to-dry scenario.  The house was unoccupied and damp for years, then everything including the piano, put in storage while the house was gutted and renovated (with electric underfloor heating), then brought back into a warm dry house.
> 
> Actually, the tuning pins were fine, in terms of tightness, although, as you may see from a close look at the pic, oblong. Yukl yuk yuk.  The piano was about 400 cents low in some parts, and 200 in the bass, and we settled on tuning it at 300  cents low to see how it went.  It hurt me to pull the bass down, but it seemed the best option.
> 
> I did feel that with the epoxy, it might be difficult to get good penetration, and that this might be easier with CA, but I wondered if epoxy might be stronger at holding things together.
> 
> I've explained to the client that we will need to keep an eye on how the piano performs over the months, in its now warm and dry environment.
> 
> A photo is attached. Plus you can see photos of part of the journey to his house on my Blog at  pianopinions.tumblr.com
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> David.
> 
> 
> <Denham & Parfitt Birdcage.jpg>

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