pneumatic press for soundboard repairs

[Ron Nossaman]

At 11:30 PM 04/01/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>List,
>
>I have a church with an eleven year old Baldwin vertical.  The soundboard is 
>coming loose along the top edge near the bass. 
>
>I have heard of using a pneumatic press to provide the clamping force needed. 
> I have also talked to a couple of local techs.  One mentioned the name Clare 
>Davies.  They said he wrote an article in the Journal about pneumatic presses 
>made from fire hose.  He also said I could use an inner-tube wrapped with 
>duct tape.
>
>Question:  1.  Does anyone have a preferred method for this type of repair, 
>and approximate time needed to complete.
>
>Question:  2.  Does anyone have the article written by Clare Davies for 
>details on making the fire hose press.
>
>
>Mike Bratcher

Mike,
The pneumatic press was for gluing ribs to the panel, not for gluing the
assembly to the rim. You don't need an extraordinary amount of clamping
pressure for what you're doing, or to glue ribs to panels, for that matter.
The best way I've found to fix what you're talking about is to trowel some
Titebond into the loose joint with a spatula, or turn the piano upside down
and squeeze some in and spread it with the spatula. I've done it both ways.
Then, wedges, rubber ball, and/or some such pushed between the plate and
soundboard from the front, to push the soundboard back into the glue and
hold it to the liner until the glue dries. Mop up squeeze out. Come back
tomorrow, take out the wedges, etc, turn the piano back right side up, and
present the bill. That's it.

Ron N