Steinway D 149495

My newest project is well underway. The pictures show the teardown from removing strings, plate and soundboard and finally the bridges. Measurements are taken, and parts indexed to use the original parts to recreate the new soundboard and bridge caps.

Steinway M 260046 Bridge work

Part of the rebuilding process ios to recap the bridges. The old caps are sawn off the body of the bridge, and then are reproduced.

The new caps are laid out and fitted to the bridge body.

Then they are glued with many clamps!

The bridges are dry fit to the soundboard, and notches are cut into the tops of the caps to determine the proper thickness of the bridges.

After the tops of the bridges are finished,the new caps have the pins and notches located. The the bridge is then notched and pinned.

After the brigdes are glued to the new board, the ribs chamfered, and the bottom side finished, the board is glued into the piano.

Steinway M 260046 Soundboard Built

Sitka spruce from Washington State is the beginning of a new Soundboard. The wood is quarter sawn, straight grained and clear of any defects. 15 pieces are selected, grain oriantation determined, and cut to length needed. I edge glue 3-4 pieces together, then thickness plane them to the desired thickness. Then these 4 pieces are glued together.

The ribs are also made of quarter sawn spruce. They are planed to proper height and width, and are shaped and thinned at the ends. I personally hand fit the ribs into the slots cut in the rim for a solid tight fit. The location of the ribs are indexed, and finally the ribs are glued to the soundboard panel.

Prior to having the ribs attached, The soundboard panel is cut and shaped to fit precisly in the piano rim. It is also dried to 5% moisture content before bing pressed.

Steinway M 260046 tear down

Below are pictures of my most recent rebuild start. Even though I haven't added pictures recently, I have been very busy. This piano will get a total restoration with refinishing. The first picture shows the old pin block, bridges and soundboard. On the soundboard are the rough cut ribs which are the start of making a new soundboard. These will be hand fitted to the piano rim for a tight precise fit. The second picture shows the piano body with the soundboard and pinblock removed. More will follow in the coming weeks as work progresses. In the mean time parts need to be ordered.This is expected to be about a 12 month process.

Steinway A #280251 Final

It has been 6 months since I last posted here. It has been a very busy 6 months with 4 major rebuilds happening at once. I am grateful for the full schedule, but am glad to be finishing up the second of these projects. After the bridges were glue to the soundboard, the board was finished and installed. Following that the piano was sent to the refinisher.

Finally, the finished product. All action and damper work was completed after the new strings were installed.

Steinway A #280251 Bridge work

After the proper thickness is determined, the bridge tops are planed, and sanded smooth. The bridge pin hole locations are placed on the new top using the patterns made earlier. Then the holes are drilled, the top dyed black, and the bridge is notched. Finally the new pins are installed.

Steinway A 280251 Setting the bearing

Setting the bearing involves planing the tops of the new bridge caps to the correct thickness. The goal is to achieve proper overall down bearing as well as correct front and rear bearing. This is achieved by dry fitting the bridges to the soundboard, and dry fitting the soundboard into the piano. The plate is then installed at it's intended location, and a string is used to determint the new string line. A small kurf is cut in the bridge at numerous locations at the desired height and angle. These notches are then used as a guide to plane the entire bridge top to the correct thickness and angle.