Leveling a plate? Del? Ron? Anybody?

[btrout@desupernet.net]

Hi Jon,

Hey, I like this idea!  It's simple, straight forward, and the hardest part
of it is finding the right screws for the job!  I feel kind of sheepish that
I didn't think of it on my own... : - )

One of the things that prompted me to ask about it is a piano in the shop
that's sitting there in pieces, waiting for a slow day, that I know has
nothing which can even remotely tell where that plate was.

Sounds very similar to how you set a Baldwin plate.

Thanks again for the idea!

Have a good day!

Brian Trout
Quarryville, Pa.

Jon Page wrote:

> In Providence, Chris Robinson gave a technique for this.
>
> First take large wood screws and make the head narrower but larger
> than the plate bolt hole. Screw them into the bolt holes.  Install plate
> and adjust height with a screw driver throught the plate bolt holes.
> I think one may need to use pipe clamps and lengths of wood to help
> hold the plate down. Once the plate is set to the correct height, remove
> the plate and install the dowels on either sides of the screws and trim
> flush to screwhead; remove screws, thank Chris.
>
> The only thing better than this list is a convention.
>
> Jon Page
> Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. (jpage@capecod.net)
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> At 08:59 PM 3/29/99 -0500, you wrote:
> >The recent thread on removing bass strings brought this up briefly.
> >
> >How do you set a grand plate that sets on wooden dowels so that the
> >plate goes in 'unstressed'?  It's easy on the Baldwins where the plate
> >just sets there on the bolts.  But on many pianos the plate sets on
> >either wooden blocks, or dowels.
> >
> >I'm curious if anyone has a good technique for getting all of those
> >dowels or blocks to come into contact with the bottom of the plate at
> >the same time so that the plate isn't put under excessive stresses just
> >being bolted into the case.  In the past I've generally come pretty
> >close to duplicating what came out, but I'm thinking I can do better.
> >
> >Any thoughts???
> >
> >Thanks,
> >
> >Brian Trout
> >Quarryville, Pa.
> >