The Mother of all Bellyrails

[Greg Newell]

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Del,
         Might you have a higher resolution photo of this that you could 
send off list? I'm having trouble seeing some of the details.

Greg Newell


At 12:38 PM 2/8/2003, you wrote:

>I've been at this rewhatevering business since early in the 1960s. About 
>the time I figure I must have seen most everything, someone like 
>Chickering comes along with this:

Snip

>Yes, that gold stuff between the agraffe line and the bridges is plate! 
>It's all part of a continuous, one-piece casting. And around the bellyrail 
>the casting extends down probably another 75 mm the full width of the 
>bellyrail with large (probably #18 or so) 4" (100 mm) wood screws spaced 
>about every 150 mm or so. Yes, the plate is heavy. Yes, what would 
>normally be an overbar is actually an underbar. Yes, the pinblock is fully 
>fitted inside the plate cavity. Yes, the tuning pin holes are size-on-size 
>with the tuning pins. (It must have been interesting driving those 4/0 
>pins into holes intended to flush-fit 2/0 pins!)
>
>Now, you would think, with all this massive plate and belly structure (the 
>three longitudinal bellybraces are fully 100 mm x 150 mm) the idea would 
>be to provide a solid foundation for the soundboard. But, no, the 
>soundboard is semi-floating on a liner approximately 15 mm tall by about 
>35 or 40 mm wide. It is attached only every 300 or 400 mm. You might be 
>able to make out the small wood blocks with screws--there are five of 
>them--along the bass side. That's how the entire soundboard is 
>mounted--including underneath that massive plate structure.
>
>No structural deficiencies here....
>
>Del
>
>Delwin D Fandrich
>Piano Designer & Builder
>Hoquiam, Washington  USA
>E.mail:  <mailto:pianobuilders@olynet.com>pianobuilders@olynet.com
>Web Site:  <http://www.pianobuilders.com>www.pianobuilders.com

Greg Newell
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net 

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