broken Steinway lyre braces

[James Grebe]

I would turn new ones out of mahogany wood.
James
James Grebe   Piano Tuning & Repair   Member of M.P.T.
R.P.T. of the P.T.G. for over 30 years.   "Member of the Year" in 1989
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Formsma" <john@formsmapiano.com>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 2:49 PM
Subject: broken Steinway lyre braces


> 1942 Steinway S in a nice club. Has broken mahogany lyre braces -- 
> broken about 7-8 inches from the lyre brace block (on the underside of
> the piano). There is at least one broken piece that is missing.
>
> Woodworking is not something I have much experience in, and I don't
> visualize these things well until after I have botched it at least once
> to know how not to do it.  So, what I was thinking about doing might be
> totally dumb. Oh well, I'm not too proud to ask "stupid questions" so I
> can learn. ;-)
>
> I can certainly find dowel stock and stain it so it would be a decent
> match. That's easy enough, and since the club is rather dark it wouldn't
> be that noticeable. However, I was thinking of re-using the good
> portions so as to retain some of the original look of the nicely turned
> braces. I would do this by putting a wood insert nut in the brace. (See
> the attached picture.) I would cut the brace in the larger diameter
> section, then drill a hole for the threaded insert. The insert accepts a
> 5/16" carriage bolt, and I would get a bolt the proper length. The bolts
> would be painted black or some other color so they would not be visible
> from a distance. By doing it this way you could also easily adjust the
> length of the brace by turning the carriage bolt (assuming you drill the
> hole a bit deeper than the insert).
>
> The piano is in a club and is susceptible to careless abuse that no
> doubt caused the braces to break. (I'm guessing something was shoved
> under the piano and they snapped.) Whatever repair decision should be
> made with a view that something like this might happen again. I'm a bit
> concerned that the proposed repair would not be as strong as the dowel
> rod, so I'm wondering if it's worth the effort to do the insert/bolt
> thing only to possibly have it break again soon.
>
> Would this work? What is your repair/replacement method in this situation?
>
> Thanks,
>
> John Formsma
>


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