Steinway D Bridge Work

This week I have completed installing new bridge caps on the original bridge body. The first step was to remove the old caps using a table saw. The process is a bit more complicated that normal, as the treble bridge and bass bridge are one piece, rather than 2 separate pieces. After the old caps are removed the top is planed and new hard maple caps are glued to the original body.

The next step is setting the bearing. That involves determining the correct thickness of the bridge cap to accommodate proper down bearing on the soundboard after the piano is string. After the proper thickness is determined, the top is planed to that thickness. The final steps are to drill the new holes for the bridge pins and to hand notch the edges. Finally new bridge pins are installed to the cap.

The completed bridges are glued to the soundboard, and the bridge is doweled throughout the ribs into the bridge.

Steinway D Soundboard

I have built the new soundboard this week. The pictures show the process of using the old board as a pattern to lay out the new ribs. They are then fit into the piano, reliefs cut in ends and finally the ribs are glues to the soundboard in my pneumatic press. The process is actually very more involved than this short summery suggests.

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.