Greetings everyone.  I responded to Mr. Corso who noticed the plate is
becoming separated/loose in his Cremona coin piano.  I pleaded with him
(and the rest of you who think this is a good idea) to forget the idea
of drilling entirely through the back of the piano to "mega-torque" new
bolts into place!

a) Loosening the tension on the strings and cinching them back up again
will only mess up the coils on the tuning pins and reduce their holding
power in the pinblock (whatever's left of it at this point).

b) Assuming these strings are original they have most likely worn out
their usefulness in producing a clear tone.  I bet they're starting to
rot and have countless false beats all over the scale regardless of the
position of the plate to begin with.

c) If the plate has become that visibly separated, one must question the
stability of the pinblock itself being glued to wooden framework of the
instrument; remember, the plate isn't holding those tuning pins in
place -- the _pinblock_ is.  Trying to bolt the thing back into place
only makes it _look_ fixed if it even gets that far before breaking.

d) Finally, and most importantly, you must determine the actual cause
of the problem before you can properly remedy the situation.  Some
manufacturers used very thin shims to decrease the downbearing of the
strings on the bridges;  maybe such shims shrunk a bit and fell into
the remaining gap?  Possible.  Now, if one tries to bolt-torque this
plate up tight you are taking an awful risk of overtightening and
cracking the plate.

If there are any slivers of wood or accumulation of glue shards, lint,
a small shim or two and God knows _whatever_  is in that crevice(s);
the "whatever it is" will prevent the plate from seating flat and true.
That alone can warp the plate (if it doesn't break it) since it would
seem to a layman's eye that more torque will eventually flatten out
those pesky gaps. (This kind of "repair" in any case can't possibly
restore the tone the piano originally had to begin with anyhow.)
Can you say "ka-chunk?"

Hope someone will think once or twice before permanently ruining a rare
survivor of American history.  I wouldn't complain much though if
someone did this to a Kimball Electramatic though.   ;)

Eric J. Shoemaker