Upright pinblock question

[pianolover 88]

I found this site for upright pinblock repair. I know my situation isn't anywhere near this bad, but I fear it could get worse. Does this seem like a feasible, reasonable approach? I don't much like the idea of inserting the bolts from the back  to the front, with big bolts and nuts showing in the tuning pin area. 

http://www.balaams-ass.com/piano/50-pnblk.htm

Terry Peterson

Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:44:28 -0300
From: jrpiano at win.eastlink.ca
Subject: Re: Upright pinblock question
To: pianotech at ptg.org










See if you can close the gap with 
clamps.
If you can, then it needs bolts through to 
the back for stability.
If you can't close the gap, then you would 
probably be ok with epoxy.
John M. Ross
Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada
jrpiano at win.eastlink.ca

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: 
  pianolover 88 
  To: PIANOTECH at PTG.ORG 
  Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2007 11:07 
  PM
  Subject: Upright pinblock question
  
Recently acquired an amazingly well preserved Kohler & 
  Campbell art case console made in 1969. To look at it, you would think that it 
  could have been made yesterday!  It has never been played, thus the hammers 
  are unmarked after almost 40 years! Even the wooden wedge was still screwed in 
  securing the big panel (some call it the kick panel?) above the pedals! 
  

Anyway, the pitch was (not surprisingly) grossly flat--close to 140 
  cents at A4! I checked all the plate bolts and they were 90% snug, needing 
  maybe 1/8 turn to totally snug them back down. The tuning pins were found to 
  be all uniformly tight, and responded beautifully to minute, incremental 
  adjustments. The pitch came right up to A440 after the first pass, and after 
  letting it settle for a while I gave it its first tuning in nearly four decades. 

I followed 
  that with two more fine tunings to make it as solid as possible for the time 
  being. Ok, now to get to the main reason for my post; There is, what appears 
  to be a separation, not really a crack but a perfectly clean separation at 
  least 2-3' behind  the pinblock 
  laminations, that runs the entire width of the pinblock. 

As I stated 
  the pins are uniformly tight, the laminations sound, and the plate bolts 
  tight. Also, I wanted to know the depth of the separation, which ranges from 
  maybe 1/2-1 millimeter wide at the very most, so I used a very thin piece of 
  steel and found that it was only about 1/4'-1/2' deep. Should this flaw be 
  cause for concern, or is it likely not going to affect the stability? The 
  tuning seems to be holding, but then I just finished it maybe an hour ago 
  so... 

Would it maybe help to 'fill' this crevice with thin west 
  systems epoxy, until it fills the area, then just let it dry and move on, or 
  would that just be a waste of time and epoxy? Or maybe Gap filling CA? Of 
  course, it would take quite a of CA to fill a 56' long, 1/2' deep cevice! 
  Thoughts and advice would be appreciated! 

PS: See the 
  pics.

Terry Peterson

  
  Help yourself to FREE treats served up daily at the Messenger Café. Stop by today! 

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