Lyre braces

[Susan Kline]

At 11:04 AM 4/3/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>I do very much realize that a turnbuckle would look just hideous, but the
>idea of being able to tighten these is very appealing.

There are systems, such as Ted's, which are not hideous. Of course the
upper end is used. I saw one Steinway M which used a long hexagonal
nut on a piece of darkened threaded rod in place of the wooden square
piece at the top. It was very easy to adjust.

However, this piano illustrated a danger of adjustable lyre braces --
One brace must have been overtightened at some point, because the glue joint
between the right post and the (lovely old 1918 S&S) lyre box had failed.
Since I saw (and mended) this, I adjust braces to just touch, not exert
pressure.

Susan Kline