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<font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="3">Terry,<br><br>what do you mean by "</font></font><font size="2"><font face="Arial" size="3">you need to leave some epoxy in the <font face="Arial" size="3">gap. You
don’t want to epoxy-starve the joint."?<br><br>I found a source for Western System Epoxy handy repair set including that filler here in Germany. Good to know, I will try it perhaps one day, but not with that Kawai. I told the customer to ask a collegue who has 7 pianotechs working for his shop: 4 on master level, 2 with certificate of apprenticeship and one apprentice, and they have a huge workshop. I don´t do repairs with woodwork anymore, just tuning, small repairs and selling pianos. But in this case it probably would have been easier to order a new brigde from Kawai which fits perfectly without any adjusting: just installing and it fits.<br><br>Gregor<br></font></font></font><br><blockquote><hr>From: mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com<br>To: pianotech@ptg.org<br>Subject: Re: Epoxy Bass Bridge Repair<br>Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 08:57:04 -0400<br><br>
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<font face="Arial" size="3">Epoxy repairs for a situation as you describe can
yield very good results. </font><font face="Arial" size="3">Sometimes the crack
opens up a fair bit – you’ll want to clamp it back into </font><font face="Arial" size="3">position – not to clamp in the traditional sense, but rather to simply
position </font><font face="Arial" size="3">the parts in their original orientation
– you need to leave some epoxy in the </font><font face="Arial" size="3">gap. You
don’t want to epoxy-starve the joint.</font><BR>
<font face="Arial" size="3"></font> <BR>
<font face="Arial" size="3">I use West System epoxy resin, hardeners and
fillers:</font><BR>
<font face="Arial" size="3"><a href="http://www.westsystem.com" target="_blank">www.westsystem.com</a> My favorite for a
cracked bridge is #404 </font><font face="Arial" size="3">High-Density Filler and
using the West System two-step bonding procedure described on the West System
web site. The following is from the West System web site:</font><BR>
<font face="Arial" size="3"></font> <BR>
404 High-Density Filler<BR>
404 High-Density filler is a thickening additive developed for maximum<BR>
physical properties in hardware bonding where high-cyclic loads are<BR>
anticipated. It can also be used for filleting and gap filling where
maximum<BR>
strength is necessary. Color: off-white.<BR>
<BR>
<font face="Arial" size="3">You can either push the bridge pins into
the uncured epoxy, tidy up and be done with it, or, for a neater, more
exacting job, you can epoxy the gap and then drill bridge pin holes after the
epoxy hardens. I have found that if cosmetic considerations are not paramount, I
apply the epoxy, clamp together until the wood is close to original dimension,
clean off epoxy squeeze out (acetone) - at that point you will be able to see
the outline of the original pin holes - push pins in place - the wood will have
been drawn together enough to hold the pin in its original position - and then
level off and clean up the little bit of epoxy that squeezes out of the holes as
you push the pin in place. Wait a day or two for the epoxy to completely cure,
go back and install bass strings.</font><BR>
<font face="Arial" size="3"></font> <BR>
<font face="Arial" size="3">I've done this repair numerous times with great
success.</font><BR>
<font face="Arial" size="3"></font> <BR>
<font face="Arial" size="3">And of course, on a nicer piano where the budget
allows, new bridge and/or new cap is preferred.</font><BR>
<font face="Arial" size="3"></font> <BR>
<font face="Arial" size="3">Terry Farrell</font><BR></font></div>
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;">
<div style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">----- Original Message ----- </div>
<div style="background: rgb(228, 228, 228) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>From:</b>
<a title="karlkaputt@hotmail.com" href="mailto:karlkaputt@hotmail.com">Gregor
_</a> </div>
<div style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>To:</b> <a title="pianotech@ptg.org" href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</a> </div>
<div style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>Sent:</b> Friday, May 09, 2008 5:13 AM</div>
<div style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>Subject:</b> Epoxy Bass Bridge Repair</div>
<div><br></div>I crawled the archieves but I did not really find what I was
looking for: does Epoxy work even for bigger gaps?<br><br>I wanted to tune a
Kawai CE-11 upright yesterday but the bass bridge looked horrible: a long gap
which affected 9 notes. The gap started at the upper pin row and the pins were
vertical. Some strings rattled at the pins. The gap expanded up to 4 mm above
the upper pin row. I did not try but I could imagine that I could have pulled
out some pins without using pliers.<br><br>First at all: I never worked with
Epoxy. My first thought was to pull out the pins, fill the gap with epoxy and
drill new holes for new pins. Could that work or is such a gap too much for
Epoxy? The bridge is made of one piece of wood, no cap.<br><br>I was shocked
about such a gap in a Kawai from 1992 (no grey market import): no floor
heating, no air con and no heater near by the piano. And I don´t live in an
area with huge differences in the climate. Very strange. That damage is a
pitty because everything else in this piano was in a pretty good condition.
But making a new bridge would be definitely too expensive including transports
from the second floor into a workshop and back to the
customer.<br><br>Gregor<br><br>
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