Bridgemeister

[EBordeleau@aol.com]

Larry -

Re: putting screws in from the top -    most of the time this is to correct a
floating bridge problem - with or without recapping or replacement.  Few of
those instruments will be around in 20 years, let alone 75 as they are
generic uprights with nearly worn out actions and marginal pinblocks, and
haven't enough musically redeeming qualities to justify the cost of
restoration.  If the apron is loose at the root, I'll remove it as well and
put the screws up from the bottom (which doesn't make them much more
accessible if the apron remains tight), then thru bolt the apron to the root.

Usually the reason the glue joints to the apron get loose in the first place
is because the manuacturer mounted the apron with grain perpendicular the the
grain of the root and the bridge - an invitation for failure.  Whe the bridge
is glued directly to the board, or to an apron with grain running in the same
direction as the bridge, bridge removal is much more difficult, and brings
the risk of removing the bridge *other* than at the glue joint.  Bad karma,
to be sure.

There's another approach to this job that I use in the shop (but not in the
home).  I mount a piece of plywood over the bridge atop spacer blocks which
are tack glued to the soundboard (cut all your spacers from a single block of
wood, so they're the same height.  The plywood must have a cutout the size of
the bridge in question, and is used as a template for my router.  Then, with
the strings out of the way, I simply rout off the top of the bridge IN PLACE
in the piano.  I have done this on strung pianos (loosen tension) with the
plates in, and it even works on the treble bridge.  While it does work, and
can save countless hours on pianos that don't otherwise need rebuilding, be
VERY careful - this technique isn't for the faint of heart (or those with
unsteady hands!).

Ed Bordeleau
Pianoarts, Inc.