This working process was instructed by the shop owner Mr. Jude Reveley. The shop owner designed the species, length, width, radius, etc. of the new ribs on the Steinway L being rebuilt. We are going to have the ribs made today. According to the data sheet, pick the wood - Sugar Pine for rib # 1, Sitka Spruce for rib # 2-11. Discard wood that has flaws, such as splits and knots. When selecting wood, make sure each rib is at least 2mm taller, 4mm wider, and 10cm longer than spect. The ribs will sit on soundboard with grain vertically placed. All ribs are quarter sawn.
There are quite a bit of wood residue left on inner rim after soundboard removal. We can use either sanding or teaming method to clean the inner rim surface. Use sanding when inside of outer rim is not going to be refinished. Use steam if it is going to be stripped and refinished. The first step of either method is to chisel the wood residue as clean as possible, leaving minimum amount of wood to be sanded or steamed off.
The tail of piano was cracked due to environment and released tension after strings were taken off. The shop owner suggested using of WoodEpox to fill the crack. Before filling, the bottom board, where the tail leg is attached, is taken off. The filling was done on day one, then sanded on day two when it is completely dried. Note: leave the filling higher than the surface because it will shrink when it dries. Turn vacuum on while sanding WoodEpox. It is very powdery, possibly bad for the lung, possibly very bad.
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November 2024
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