[pianotech] bad bridge need help

[Paul McCloud]

I once attended a class given by Nick Gravagne where he drilled out a large hole in the bridge and plugged with a hardwood plug.  The hole/plug is drilled out where the old pin holes were, and the plug is notched and drilled as if it were a new bridge.  It's a kind of alternative to recapping the bridge due to splits in just a few areas.  There may be an article in the Journal somewhere (don't quote me, tho).
Paul McCloud
San Diego

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dean May" <deanmay at pianorebuilders.com>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Sent: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 5:36:14 AM
Subject: Re: [pianotech] bad bridge need help




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 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