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<TT>I'm interested to learn a little about Del's steel plates, too - and
also about cast iron ones.</TT><TT></TT>
<P><TT>We have two interesting plates in the shop. The 1890's Broadwood
grand has its plate cast in five separate pieces machined to screw together,
possibly with dove-tail joints. The second example is a very cheap Depression-era
straight-strung spinet, if I remember correctly, the plate is welded together,
and the larger steel sections are built up from thinner pieces.</TT><TT></TT>
<P><TT>I wonder if you bought scrap steel or cast iron and had a machine
shop build up a plate similar to, if somewhat simpler than our Broadwood,
whether this would cost less than having one cast (assuming you did all
of the preliminary work). How much does it cost to get a plate cast?</TT><TT></TT>
<P><TT>Clark Panaccione</TT></HTML>