Restoration of a Steinway X Upright for Richard
Davis
32) 
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32) Two shots here to demonstrate what I said in the scaling
information on page one. This photo shows a smooth bridge curve passing under where
the cast iron support was.
33) This photo shows how they correctly adjusted the upper bridge to pass
under the cast iron support without compromising the smooth flow of speaking lengths.
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34) A photo of the bass bridge. Notice that they
lightened the bridge in the upper section where the thinnest wound strings are placed.
This was done with the hope that it would better blend the volume and harmonic
richness of these notes with those very next notes which lay on the treble bridge.
35) The two arrows in this photo point to two different structures.
Technically they are culled the pin block (upper arrow) and the belly rail (lower
arrow). In uprights, there is never a belly rail; this structure is a grand piano
thing. The purpose of it is to make space for the grand piano's hammers to pass
between and strike the strings. Upright pianos have no need of this. I'm not
entirely sure why Steinway did this. It certainly led them to making a stronger
plate to allow for this structure (we win there) but it does reduce the overall size of
the sound board (which could possibly be interpreted as a loss albeit a slight one.)
This belly rail is glued to the back posts and screwed to the plate so that it
provides a very stiff and sturdy gluing structure for the sound board.
36) A photo taken on a whim. It's only real reason is to show that the
screens placed behind the piano were great at keeping out vermin but the dust passed right
through. The light colored dust is a microfine layer from the workshop.
Underneath consists primarily of the dust from a house using coal to fire its furnace.
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37) This triangle is called a gusset. It's function is
to shorten the length of the sound board ribs and give them more strength. It also
reduces the size of the sound board. There is a valid argument that this would also
reduce the volume of the piano. But many fine pianos were made with these installed
into them with good results. If you ever see a classical/Spanish guitar on the
inside, you will notice a harmonic bar on either side of the sound hole inside the
instrument. This bar can be used as a means of splitting the vibrational mode of the
guitar top from one big, low pitched, mode to a higher pitched and more richly voiced
double vibrational mode. A smaller board, in this manner, can produce desirable
effects; depending on what effects you desire. The gussets also serve a structural
function; adding dimensional stability to the wooden back frame of the piano.
38) This instrument has two gussets which is common for Steinway X
pianos of this era. The lower right gusset is made of solid hardwood. The
upper left gusset is made of a vertically laminated hardwood glued in the form of one
"board." This leaves a large triangular opening that needs filling.
The makers usually filled the hole with spruce and rib stock. For my shop, this
makes for challenging work problems and additional expense. The better choice
logistically for me and tonally for the piano is to make the upper gusset just like the
lower. Fill in the empty part left behind when you remove the sound board with solid
hardwood.
39) Just a photo to show you the pin block. You can see right through
some of the holes to the other side. This shows just how similar the making of this
piano is to the way of producing grands. As it is, this piano is among the easiest
of uprights to replace the entire pin block. I always route away an ample section of
wood from the tuning pin area, make perfectly fitted Delignit replacement wood, match it
up, drill it out and glue it into place with epoxy. I feel that the overall
structure of this piano is excellent and that no profit can be had by cutting out an
important structural element when my usual method is easily done here and will yield
exactly the same quality in the finished product. Later, you will see pictures of
this being carried out.
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40) Time more more "truth in advertising." When I
was finished regluing the keyframe that I had damaged from a lapse in memory, I detected
that one side of the frame had slipped under the clamping pressure and was not correct.
Rather than skim over this, I reopened the break, cleaned it up and glued it again
so that the alignments will be perfect and I won't need to fear for the proper placement
of the cheek blocks. With the added crossbanded wood I plan to install, all should
be stronger than original anyway.
41) The heights of all the mounting dowels have been recorded down
to the nearest thousandths of an inch and index holes have been drilled around the
perimeter of the sound board. It is close to being ready to remove.
42) If you look closely at the lower edge of the pin block (hard to
see) you can see black area amongst the white wood. These are the points where the
pin block actually touches the cast iron plate. My methods of fitting a block leave
the contact area 100% instead of 10% which is usual for good fits using only wood. I
use a little stiff paste epoxy just before I put the plate in to ensure a seriously
perfect fit. Since this will not be replaced during the remaking of the pin block, I
will still take the time to improve the fit with the plate during reassembly.
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43) The plate is removed. This shows how big that base flange
was. The plate can literally stand upright on its own. I have extra supports
on it right now so it is sure not to fall over should I bump it.
44) This code was stamped into the sound board by Steinway.
The new board will probably have the actual wood with the original stamp inlayed into the
solid gusset I'm placing where it used to be open air and a little spruce cover.
45) The board's glue joints at the base and at the top were (in my
opinion) unnecessarily narrow. In order to help hold the sound board to this narrow
glue ledge, screws were put in the wood. The problems here are many. Mason
& Hamlin were famous for the way they reinforced the glue joints on their boards.
But they used wood washers and glued on hardwoods to ensure that the screw would
really function as a "hold-down." The way Steinway put these screws in,
they just collapsed the wood under them and produced cracks without really improving the
glue joints in any way. This fault will be corrected during restoration.
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46) A photo of the bottom right gusset showing mould that is
often found growing here on old pianos. You also can see four of the plate mounting
dowels which will be replaced. The ling parallel to and above these dowels is a
crack in the sound board that coincides with the end of the gluing joint which happens to
be very wide in this area. Experience tells me that the board will break off there
during removal. In fact, I can predict from experience all the areas that this
particular sound board will be vulnerable during removal.
47) Further up the sound board to show a couple more mounting
dowels.
48) A better shot of the pin block's lip where it fits against the plate.
This is the area whose contact points I intend to improve.
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49) Duct tape placed front and back are added to the sound
board to help it come out of the piano whilst retaining its shape so I can use its index
holes in producing the new board. The glue joints holding every board in this sound
board have failed and the boards have some cracks down their middles to boot. I must
help the board come out in one piece as best I can. I've heard some people claim
they got a sound board out by carefully using putty knives and chisels. I have tried
it from time to time and have learned that the safest way to remove an old sound board is
to knock it out from behind using strategically placed boards and a heavy rubber mallet.
50) Before removing the sound board, I pulled all the bridge pins out of
both bridges. This, I've learned, is advisable since leaving them in results in a
lot of scraped knuckles and blood in places we don't want it... The weight
of the bridge pins that came out of these bridges was precisely 3/4 lb. My method of
making bridges may use a little more metal than usual but considering the weight I'm
taking off by not using 3/4 lb. in steel pins, it doesn't end up effecting the tone in any
way but for the better. Since my method of making up the bridges is a trade secret
to my shop alone in the world, the pictures and details of that work will be sent directly
to the owner and will not likely be posted here.
51) The key frame is now glued up correctly although the reinforcing cross
grain wood hasn't been installed yet. Here is a photo of the top.
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52) The key frame from the bottom.
53) The sound board is out! It is common that glue and some
spruce remain on the gluing shelf (called the "Rastin") which will be soaked
away with water and vinegar applied and held to soak with paper towels rolled up and
packed onto the Rastin.
54) The bridges are now indexed to the original sound board and it is time
to remove them. Steinway always does a heavy job of securing the upper and lower
edges of its treble bridges. Especially at the bottom of the treble bridge since
they leave raised areas which don't touch the sound board at every point you see a
chamfered square block. The blocks hold the bridge while, hopefully, leaving the
sound board more flexible in that area where the bridge really is too close to the edge.
I, personally, don't believe these posts are needed and that they fight the goal of
flexibility that their use was prompted by. I will be inquiring with the owner as to
whether he minds if I leave them out during the restoration. If we find ourselves
not liking the result, they can most likely be redone even with the piano reassembled.
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55) Usually Steinway (and other high end) pianos have fairly
hefty hardwood dowels running through each rib into the treble bridge. Some makers
(like Fischer) would also add a wooden sound board button (washer) and a screw to the
sound board/bridge in between each rib. But Steinway doesn't do this. I
believe they were concerned about the weight of the screws killing the sound. They
were wrong. This act helps the durability and tone production both so I prefer to
add it to all pianos whether they had it originally or not.
56) With all the screws and dowels gone, the bridges can be
chiseled off the sound board. I've had treble bridges come off taking all the spruce
that was under them along for the ride, leaving a great hole in the sound board.
I've learned to recognize the first signs of this happening and was able to get this
bridge off while keeping the original sound board fairly intact. It is fragile but
it has survived well enough to serve as a template for the new board.
57) The underside of the tenor section of the treble bridge; showing those
raised areas I referred to along with the dowels which were added to keep the raised area
supported. You can, perhaps, see my point about not needing the dowels. If the
bridge will not hold without those dowels, your glue joints need to be reconsidered and
you didn't make the body of the bridge strong enough.
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58) The treble end of the treble bridge. You can see
how one of the laminations has come undone. The design for this particular bridge
called for a series of thin layers between each thick layer. It was this technique
which lead to the failure. The new bridge will have the thicker layers but no thing
layers like the one that failed here.
59) Another shot of the other end of the treble bridge showing more
failures.
60) The extra length of wood off the end of the treble bridge is intended to
add strength to the bridge and carry vibrations up into the sound board better. It
is reduced in height because it must travel under the plate while not touching it.
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