Pianotech

The goal is to move my grand pianos out of the house into a separate studio this summer, which means I now need an upright piano for my house. The plan is to partially rebuild an 1877 Steinway upright that I've been saving. The upper bass string termination point (I don't know the proper name) is made of wood and crushing under the pressure (see photo). It appears to be screwed on, I plan on removing it and making a new one. I'm wondering if I should modify the new one and route a groove for a type of metal insert? Or just use a really hard wood and replicate the original?

Thanks!

Tim, I think I would be inclined to duplicate what is there with high quality bridge capping material. I'll bet that is glued on. You likely know this but make a good rubbing after you pull the pins. Locator holes?? Or whatever.