I have an old upright that I am using to practice some repairs that I have not yet done for clients and to practice skills towards the RPT exams. My Salt Lake PTG chapter meetings are a 2.5 hour drive away for me, but they have started doing live streaming of the meetings so I am able to participate. I have also attended a repair workshop for our chapter and am finding these things exciting and rewarding to learn and practice. I find myself also learning so much from these discussion threads. I was unfortunately unable to attend the Tuscon Conference this year, but am planning to attend the convention next year.
I am doing my first attempt at epoxying and repinning the long bridge on my old upright which has developed the occasional hairline cracking.
I have several questions for some of you experts. All of the pins from the long bridge are measuring at .086. The new pins I ordered from Schaff are supposed to be .086, but seem to be measuring about .002 or so smaller than that. At any rate, they do not fit quite as snugly as the original pins, which are bent and with some corrosion. I am planning to lightly sand out string grooves and re-notch to bisect pin hols for clean string termination on the bridge, fill the holes with epoxy, let cure, and redrill before pinning. Should I be concerned at all about the slightly loose fit of the pins here? Is it better to apply epoxy and then insert the pins?
While I am at it I am also wanting to work on the bass bridge. It is in good shape with no cracking, except for a few hairline cracks from sidebearing pressure. I was planning to epoxy and repin as well. However, the monochord pins measure at .140. Again, the question is, can these be filled with epoxy and redrilled for new .135 pins, or is it best to plug with maple dowels and redrill? I also considered using a .146 desk pin, but wouldn't want to change termination for the strings; is this an absurd idea, or worth considering? Any other ideas for handling non-standard bridge pins? Really, the point of all of this is for me to practice, so I have also considered having the bass bridge duplicated or for me to practice recapping for more standard pins.
Again, my main goal here is to practice correct procedures, and build muscle memory from the hands on experience. Any advice would be helpful for me in the learning process. Thank you!
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Alden Jack
Smithfield UT
435-760-3974
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