Hi all,  I broke a plate while tuning.  It was a 1915 Lester player
piano that had been stored in a damp garage for 28 years.  The entire
treble bridge was cracked and all of the strings were rusted.  After
all of the repairs were made the plate exploded on the very last tuning
pin.  I was almost finished.

The plate shattered much like the pictures that John Tuttle posted
on YouTube.  Upon inspection you could see a rust line right by the
nose bolt in the middle of the plate starting in the treble section.
Probably the crack occurred with the swelling of the wood putting too
much pressure on the bolt, hence over-tightening it.

I always give a disclaimer before I start tuning a piano that has been
neglected.  And I must tune and repair around five Aeolian players a
month.  I've done three this week and refused to tune one, a spinet.
The first bridge pin on the treble bridge was drilled incorrectly and
had cracked the treble bridge.  The bass bridge had hairline cracks
also.

One other point that I would like to make is that I always check out
the old Gulbransen players before tuning.  There seem to be a defect in
the plate in the bottom middle behind the pedals.  I've seen a dozen
that have cracked plates in that area.

Diane DeTar
La Mesa, California