Before I can start to remove the pin-block, I would like to remove all the plate struts, except the center strut which is built into the stretcher. To do this I must cut apart the welded-in cross bars which are not original to this piano. In the photo above, the sound-board is protected with cardboard, and thin plywood before the bars are cut apart with a Sawzall. This is brutal work, and thankfully takes only a few minutes.


The plate struts are screwed into the piano. On the hitch-pin panel they rest on, and are screwed to steel stanchions (stand-offs). These small blocks of metal form the head of a bolt which passes through the hitch-pin panel and into the inner rim. In the front there is a similar arrangement, with small metal blocks, whose lower part forms a machine screw that passes through the shelf, and is secured from below with a round nut. Between these are a series of nose, or pillar bolts, that pierce the sound-board, and likewise through the strut, then being retained at the top by a slotted brass nut. These nuts were covered over by a recent type of resinous putty (Bondo) and were so badly damaged by a previous removal, that they had to be tapped out with a small punch. 

Above, the piano with all the struts removed.

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