The 1893 Julius Bauer

[erwinspiano at aol.com]

Hi All
? Dennis & I finally tore down the? Julius Bauer 6 ft. A truly amazing piece of engineering from antiquity. I have such respect for this man. Analyzing?his pianos sound board system & how it is constructed is truly fascinating. I consider him as much a pioneer (wild man) as Jonas Chickering.? Out side the box
?? The entire soundboard system is not?attached to the case but to the massive plate.? The?plate in turn is fastened/screwed to the case......?The board & belly rail are one unit & is attached to the case? only?by pivot a screw on each side. As seen in picture 2 the keybed is removed,held in place by dowels & screws, yet un-glued.?The beautiful maple belly rail is not attached to the keybed when assembled?but is separated from it by only a mm gap. In? picture 2?imagine lifting up on the back of the sound board. It moves & sits only on a block attached to the case.
? The sound boards laminated oak liner captures the edge of the soundboard firmly around it's perimeter & because of the Julius design it?forces crown in to the board both?across the grain as usual but significantly along the grain as well.?The entire structure?displays a real?dished looking shape. This is seen? by the overall view in picture 4?&?by viewing the head on?picture?of the belly rail. Stretching a string along the belly rail reveals a massive 15 mm of crown deflection from bass to treble.
? Also the treble & bass ends of the bridge rise to stay in the string plane as the board takes a dive due to the crown enhancement features of this design.
? It's a huge bridge. The result in mass will increase impedance/sustain. The bridge itself is over 2 inches tall at the treble end & 1 & 13/16 th ?in the middle.? It is?close to 2 inches tall in the bass. This tall bridge structure?appears to build in a great deal of?soundboard stiffness much like a beam.
? It has a Wessel nickel & gross action. The case is a beautiful Walnut veneer.
? I have many pictures from the bottom side as well I can post later.? It has a straight short bass cut-off bar & no support beams. It doesn't need them.
? We will probably display this novel & intriguing piano when completed 
?? Dale Erwin
? Double Clicking on the picture should enlarge them for better viewing. I'm using a new format & the learning curve is still......goin on
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