Thank You Susan, The sliding curtain rod trick. Almost a one handed trick. Good one. I might find some hardwood dowels around here. Oak, I would guess. I know a couple of people who do turnings and would have walnut. That would look real nice but probably over kill. Appreciate the response, I ask a lot of dumb questions. Like, was I wrong to tell this lady who called that $950 was a steal of a price for a 6'6" 1925 Kimball. Maybe I could have had it if I hadn't sounded like I wanted it. Keith R. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Kline" <sckline@attbi.com> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2002 8:05 PM Subject: Re: Estey lyre support rods > > >This time the piano was wobbly. A 1923 Estey baby grand <snip> > >They also lost the Lyre support rods. Were those made from dowel stock? > >Looks like a socket for a rounded end or did I look too quick? What would > >have been the original wood they were made out of? I prefer to duplicate > >original if possible. Were the sockets lined? Felt, buckskin? Are the > >Shaff brass rods the only other option? Thanks for your experience. > >Keith R > >Associate PTG > > > Well, Keith, it's hard to tell exactly what was there to start with, unless > you just happen to run across another Estey grand. But while I've found > some Aeolian grands with plain dowels for lyre props, most sticks I've seen > were either turned on a lathe (thicker in the middle), or square in > cross-section and tapered, so they were thicker in the middle and tapered > on the ends. Then a round would be turned on the last few inches. Look at a > Steinway to see this style of lyre prop. Also, there is sometimes a little > bead or two in the thick area of the middle, or a little ridge. Late 19th > century grands could have more elaborately turned lyre sticks, but by 1923 > they probably were fairly simple. > > Of course, most of this is just for decoration ... but if the woodworking > doesn't scare you, it can be fun to do something like this. Stain them dark > and put some sort of varnish on them. Hardwood is sturdiest, but maple > doesn't take stain well. > > To get them the right length, I make them a little long, and then with the > lyre installed, I use a short telescoping curtain rod, putting it into one > end hole and pulling it out until it touches the other. Then I mark where > the curtain rod overlaps itself, with a magic marker. At this point, I can > remove it, pull it back out until the mark is seen, and lay it next to the > lyre prop to mark where I should saw. > > Hope this is some help. Of course, you can just use those short brass > braces which screw into the posts and the keybed, but while they work they > don't look original at all. > > Susan Kline > >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC