Les and list, I don't have experience with Bechstein plate cracks myself, but my friend Arjen Reeser from Nijmegen (on of the finest techs I ever met) has shown me several Bechsteins with cracks in the plate. And not all had been restrung. I don't agree with André that it should have anything to do with material failure. IMHO it is a design problem, this causes peak tensions where the strut reaches the pinblock. There comes too much force on the pinblock, because of this you can see that the pinblock warps. Arjen sent the plate to a firm specialised in repairing ships engines with cracks in the cast metal parts, they do that with cramps. Furthermore he reinforced the pinblock with a ± 3 x 40 mm steel strip, this strip is placed in a slot routed in the pinblock, and fixed with screws while the pinblock is bent so that you get a sort of pre-stressed construction. Michiel van Loon mvanloon@xs4all.nl Meppel Nederland
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