<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content=text/html;charset=iso-8859-1> <STYLE>.hmmessage P { PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } BODY.hmmessage { FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma } </STYLE> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16640" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY class=hmmessage id=MailContainerBody style="PADDING-RIGHT: 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-TOP: 15px" bgColor=#ffffff leftMargin=0 topMargin=0 CanvasTabStop="true" name="Compose message area"> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>Terry, is this the same material you use to fit the pinblock?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>Al Guecia</FONT></DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt Tahoma"> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5"> <DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com href="mailto:mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com">Farrell</A> </DIV> <DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, May 09, 2008 8:57 AM</DIV> <DIV><B>To:</B> <A title="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org
CTRL + Click to follow link" href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV> <DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: Epoxy Bass Bridge Repair</DIV></DIV></DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2> <P><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></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=3>I use West System epoxy resin, hardeners and fillers:</FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=3><A href="http://www.westsystem.com">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></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT> </P> <P>404 High-Density Filler</P> <P>404 High-Density filler is a thickening additive developed for maximum</P> <P>physical properties in hardware bonding where high-cyclic loads are</P> <P>anticipated. It can also be used for filleting and gap filling where maximum</P> <P>strength is necessary. Color: off-white.</P> <P> </P> <P><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></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=3>I've done this repair numerous times with great success.</FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT> </P> <P><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></P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=3></FONT> </P> <P><FONT face=Arial size=3>Terry Farrell</FONT></P></FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=karlkaputt@hotmail.com href="mailto:karlkaputt@hotmail.com">Gregor _</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, May 09, 2008 5:13 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><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> <HR> Get news, entertainment and everything you care about at Live.com. <A href="http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx " target=_new>Check it out!</A> </BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>