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<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial>Hi Fred,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I ran into trouble while finishing your bridge =
caps. With
the few sets of laminated caps I have made, I have used a method =
where I
lay up the individual laminations in a piece-meal staggered jig-saw =
manner (hard
to explain). Anyway, the pieces usually end up just barely covering the =
bridge
width - there is no room for error. When I apply epoxy and assemble, I =
lay a
pinblock over the cap and pray that nothing moves/slides/etc. Actually, =
I have
been surprised in the past that things worked out. I've been waiting for =
a
disaster. A few times I had a little movement, but it only resulted =
in some
cosmetic defects - I don't necessarily mind that on my pianos, but I =
would not
want to send something like that out the door to another
technician.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Anyway, I epoxied the whole mess together for =
your long
bridge on Tuesday. I removed the pinblock clamp yesterday morning only =
to find
that somehow the whole thing slid - kinda like a mud slide, but instead =
of mud,
it was your bridge cap laminations. What I ended up with is nothing but =
one big
very hard mess. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I need to start over on the caps.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>My former method resulted in a cap that covered =
the long
bridge in one piece (I kinda liked that). I would like to try doing it =
the way
Ron Nossaman makes his laminated caps. The actual laminations are =
basically the
same as mine, but he makes up individual sections of the long bridge in =
pieces.
So the long bridge would be a three-piece cap. You would cut and trim =
the cap
material in much the same manner as you would with a traditional solid =
cap.
There would be butt joints in the cap under the two struts. Using this =
method, I
can use wider pieces for my laminations and run little if any risk of =
things
sliding out of place during the epoxy thing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>What that means though is more time. I need to =
make a jig
for cutting the pieces on my bandsaw (a sled, or truck). I will order =
parts for
the jig this morning and have them by Saturday. I can have the caps =
completed
within a week.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The soundboard is just sitting in my shop, =
wrapped up,
ready to go (as it has for weeks). If you are ready to get to work on =
that, I
don't want to hold you up, and I will ship that separately any time you =
want. I
will then ship the caps as soon as they are done - I will absorb the =
cost of any
additional shipping. If you are not quite ready for the soundboard =
though, we'll
just ship everything together when the caps =
are complete.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Please let me know. Sorry about the cap
delay.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV>
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