[pianotech] 1895 Kimball

[Terry Farrell]

On Nov 16, 2010, at 11:37 AM, Joseph Garrett wrote:

> Looked at a 1895 Kimball upright today. Owner is entertaining having  
> the bass
> strings replaced, there are very tubby. The piano also has a Honky  
> Tonk
> muffler, almost looks like a standard muffler, felt is slit and  
> brass tabs
> mounted on the ends. Was this made like this or altered at some  
> point in it's
> life.
> It was altered

How do you know that Joe? I've seen quite a few Honky Tonk rails that  
at least appear to be original.

> My concern is the bass bridge has some splitting around the pins and  
> it's apron
> has 3 cracks in it. If they decided to restring, the bass bridge  
> arpon would
> have to be repaired, after removing the bridge, can it simply be  
> glued back
> together? white glue or epoxy? also I'd repair the splits along the  
> bridge pins
> at that time. Lots of info posted of late on that.
>
> Hmmmm?Bass bridge can and should be repaired IN the piano. With  
> Epoxies: Two Tone Clear and Steel Epoxies; each for specific jobs.

I was trying to decide how to respond to Ron Nossaman's "Imagine" post  
regarding repairing a split bridge VS replacing. It seems to me there  
is a time & place for most everything. And IMHO, there are very  
appropriate applications for repairing a bridge with epoxy. However,  
in a case like this where the piano owner has decided to replace an  
entire set of bass strings - IMHO, if the piano is worth a new set of  
strings, it is worth a new bridge cap and/or and new bridge and/or a  
new apron (ouch! did I say that?), or better yet, move the bridge  
forward and eliminate the apron (hey, we're rescaling anyway.....).

Whereas I agree that the potential exists that a good repair can be  
made with epoxy (really need to see pics), why would you say that the  
bass bridge SHOULD be repaired with epoxy?

> It looks to me that it has steel wound bass strings. Is there a  
> vendor that
> makes these? or would replacing with brass wound strings change the  
> sound. They
> optained this piano because of the Honky Tonk feature. What supplier  
> offers
> steel wound strings?
>
> None! (that I know of). Because the piano has Steel wound strings,  
> you will need to have the Bass scale recalulated to compensate for  
> the difference in mass of the steel to copper. If you do not, you  
> will have a disparity in tension, (higher) and an excessively bright  
> bass, (due to the excessive tension). I advise that you do the  
> recalculating yourself or have a good scaler do it.

Glad to see we agree on some things!!!   ;-)

Terry Farrell
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