[pianotech] bad bridge need help

[Dean May]

You might try CA glue under the affected areas. Drill a few small, like
1/16" holes into the core, then soak it with thin CA, including the pins.
That would be cheap, quick and easy, and probably produce some improvement. 

 

Epoxy would be a better choice for density and hardness, but won't penetrate
as well.  So if the customer is willing to pay for more time and you have
some West System epoxy and the high density filler, I would pull the pins,
then select a drill bit that is about 1/8" smaller than the distance between
the pin hole lines- front to back. Drill out the infested area, as deep as
you need to. Coat sides and bottom of your new hole and the bridge pin holes
with thin epoxy. You could even add a little acetone to thin it down even
more so it will get some deep penetration. Coat your bridge pins and
reinsert. Mix up some high density filler into your epoxy to make it nice
and thick, then fill up your new hole with the thick stuff. Let it cure,
sand it down, put strings back on. 

 

Understand I've never done the above repair, never encountered this
particular problem. But I think it would work and it couldn't hurt since the
bridge is toast anyway. What you need to do is re-establish a solid
connection between the string on top and the soundboard and it doesn't have
to be wood. Solid epoxy with high density filler will do that. You could
actually completely cut away the bad area, make some forms lined with wax
paper, and fill it with the thick epoxy and it would work great. But now
you're starting to get into the time it would take to just replace the
bridge. 

 

I've been using this thick epoxy to rebuild a broken motorcycle fairing,
completely rebuilding missing mounting tabs. The result is stronger than the
original. It's really amazing

 

Dean

Dean W May                        (812) 235-5272 voice and text

PianoRebuilders.com           (888) DEAN-MAY         

Terre Haute IN 47802           Give us a LIKE on Facebook! Go to
<https://www.facebook.com/pages/PianoRebuilderscom/137780082943148>
PianoRebuilders.com

  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Julian Blackman
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2012 12:04 AM
To: mailman-owner at ptg.org; pianotech at ptg.org; pianotech-bounces at ptg.org;
pianotech owner; Randy Potter
Subject: [pianotech] bad bridge need help

 

Hi fellow technicians,
 
My name is Julien Blackman owner of  sirblackpianoservices.com Trinidad.WI .
One of my customer owns a 7  foot kimbal grand ,it had been attacked by
termites(fumigated already) damaging the bridge which he tried to used
filler to strengthen the bridge but it didn't work and can't afford to
change the bridge .Only a few notes sounds bad  but the rest of the piano is
ok ,is there any suggestion how to improve the sound on those few bad notes
until he can afford to change the bridige.
 
Best regards,
 
Sir Black Piano Services

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20120501/e7aaa7c3/attachment.htm>