At 09:13 PM 2/14/96 -0700, you wrote: >Thank you all for your replies. The idea of welding sounds promising and >quite permenant. The use of epoxy was also suggested, but I have yet to >discuss it further before I have any idea how permenant the repair would >be. Even outside this forum, I got responses varying from 'take it to >the dump' and 'sure it can be fixed, without destringing'. As far as I'm >concerned, if a repair can be made economically, it's probably worth >trying. Thanks again everyone! > >laurence Beach >Vancouver BC >Canada. Just to let you all know, I have seen two pianos successfully welded in the last two years. My friends, (not in the guild, but rebuilders) told me that this was the most cracked plates they had seen in a number of years. One was an old upright player piano that was having the player action rebuilt and they noticed that the plate was cracked. The other was a grand that was in the finishing stages of being chipped to pitch after restringing when the plate cracked. In both of these cases, the piano plate was welded while the piano was up to pitch. I don't know what welding technique was used, but both repairs held successfully, and have not been returned with problems yet (after 1 1/2 years). For the grand, the action was removed, and the soundboard and dampers were carefully covered with metal sheets (like metal roofing tin) to protect them. After the welding was complete and it cooled down, the plate was sanded smooth and touched up with bronze lacquer. Try having it welded. I wouldn't have believed it could be done if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes! Sincerely, David A. Vanderhoofven dkvander@clandjop.com Joplin, Missouri, USA Associate Member, Piano Technicians Guild web page: http://www.clandjop.com/~dkvander/
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