Thanks for the insight, Mr. Monroe! I'm not sure whether the customer will go for a complete rebuild job or not, but the insight you have given gives me some ideas. I was not sure how I was going to get the block or the plate out. I wonder if the pictures have posted on ptg.org yet. I will try to find out, and post more when I figure it out. I know there are none of the molding inside the rim, however. Clark A. Sprague, RPT csprague4 at woh.rr.com ----- Original Message ----- From: William Monroe To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2010 11:13 AM Subject: Re: [pianotech] 1865 Knabe Grand Hi Clark, Not sure about the plate. Perhaps if the molding above the plate is thick enough (a photo would help ;-] ) you might be able to remove the lower portion of the inner molding to give enough room to tilt the plate out. Otherwise, I think you're stuck with cutting it out. As far as the block goes, it's not too bad to duplicate a multi-tier block. We did a four-layer block in an old Henry Miller last year. Getting it out, you can cut the block at the inner rim, then use a large forstner bit, drilling out most of the mortised in block, then chisel out the remaining block - watch that it's not also screwed in - our Miller was. The screws were IN the mortise and we only discovered them with the (now trashed) forstner bit. For re-installation, you can cut an angle down into the mortise from the top, allowing you to cut the new block a little long, and shove one end into it's mortise, dropping the second end in where you cut the angle. This will allow you to have the new block at least partly mortised in when you are done. Fill in the gaps in the mortise with thickened epoxy if you choose. Multi-tier blocks typically require that you make a pattern of some sort, and cut the section out. On raised sections, I'll make a pattern either from the old block or the plate, plane an appropriately sized piece to approximate thickness, cut out the piece and fit it to the plate if there is a recess for it, then fit the main block on top of the piece. When it's all fit, put the piece in place, epoxy the surface, and clamp down the fitted main block on top of it. You can also make a pattern and use a router to remove material from the main block if there is a cut-out. Hope that helps. Let me know if you like, and I'll find some photos. William R. Monroe -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100905/c4aff7b1/attachment.htm>
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