More on Bridges
By Craig Brougher
In certain old Aeolian upright player pianos or D/A reproducers, I have noticed that the bridge pins close to the treble notch, on the tenor side of the bridge is broken out because there just isn't enough wood left to support them. There also isn't enough room between the bridge wood and the plate to add an "end cap" of some kind for wood support, either. It is a definite flaw caused by sloppy plate installation. The piano plate has been installed in some of these pianos too far to the left, and they just chiseled off the end of their tenor bridge and hoped.
It doesn't make any sense at all to tear off the treble bridge and build a new one from scratch because it would do the same thing! So now what do you do when there isn't enough wood left to even support a pin? Remember, you can't even get three sheets of paper between the chopped end of the bridge and the plate support.
Enter J-B Weld. It is the strongest Epoxy you can buy in small, sensible quantities. Drill the pin holes deeper, fill the broken part of the bridge with J-B Weld, stick extra long bridge pins into the holes, but with mold release sprayed on them, and just let the epoxy go where it's going to go until everything's dry. Pull the pins (with much trouble), and chisel the surface flat. (You can't get a file in there). Replace the pins, and you have a VERY permanent and excellent bridge.
Craig B.
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(Message sent Fri 8 Nov 1996, 15:50:57 GMT, from time zone GMT.) |
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