flat tabletop

[Ken Jankura]

   All this talk about flat workbenches is fine, but most keybeds are not.
Here are a couple of alternatives. One member in our chapter uses a hollow
core door and two sawhorses. The door flexes, and changing the distance
between the sawhorses can replicate both keybeds that are either humped or
dipped in the center. He uses a thin straight edge to ascertain the 'shape'
of the front rail in the piano, and recreates it on his decidedly unflat
bench. He swears by it.
     I use a system demonstrated by the Snyders, or at least my
interpretation of it. Bed the keyframe always first and foremost. Next take
accurate dip measurements on sample keys  (using a weight can help on the
accuracy part). At your flat wavy crooked level (flat does help) bench, use
a dial gauge to measure the glide bolt height so you can set it back where
it was easily later. Then go ahead and bed the action to your bench. Now
recreate the dip measurements you took in the piano. You may have to shim up
the back rail with veneer strips. You may have to use finely feathered shims
under parts of the front rail to simulate bows or humps or dips. Voila, in
essence you have recreated the keybed in the privacy of your own shop. The
only place that can cause a little confusion is if you've had to do anything
really drastic (like really shim up the back rail for some reason), your
string height measurements can be off a little bit. It seems to work pretty
well with very little needed back at the piano. There's always some work,
but yes I'd much rather be home.

> Another suggestion for a flat workbench:
>
> I use a discarded soapstone tabletop that was removed from
> a chemistry laboratory at the University of PA.  These things show
> up in the hallways periodically on there way out to the dumpster.
> If you saw all of the useful stuff I see getting wasted, it might
> make you cry.
>
> Larry Toto
>
>
>