I was recently given an Empire period square grand piano, which has unfortunately been converted into a desk and cut down in length. For me it is really hard to turn down anything with rosewood veneer, ebony stringing, and gaudy ormolu.
Overall condition isn't too bad, with most of the veneer and ormolu intact. The only real issue is the stripped threaded connection from the mahogany legs into the case (1-1/2" diameter x 3-1/2" long about 3 tpi). It seems that the female threads in the body are OK, but the male threads on the legs are stripped, with only one of the threaded legs still in usable condition.
I need suggestions on how to repair these to provide enough strength for it to function as a desk for my 11 year old son. As the piano works are gone, I'm not looking for a complete period appropriate repair. I would like the legs to still be removable and to have acceptable strength to support the case with it's 4" thick sound board (heavy!).
At one point, two of the legs had glue-soaked linen wrapped around the threads to build them up. 30+ years of storage probably accounted for the glue turning brittle and crumbling. I could potentially see this working if the sockets were waxed, and the linen was soaked with hide glue or maybe epoxy. Perhaps just thickened epoxy without the linen would be best.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. At this point, it is just sitting on the floor in my front parlor.
Thank you,
andrew
andrew rappaport
Overall condition isn't too bad, with most of the veneer and ormolu intact. The only real issue is the stripped threaded connection from the mahogany legs into the case (1-1/2" diameter x 3-1/2" long about 3 tpi). It seems that the female threads in the body are OK, but the male threads on the legs are stripped, with only one of the threaded legs still in usable condition.
I need suggestions on how to repair these to provide enough strength for it to function as a desk for my 11 year old son. As the piano works are gone, I'm not looking for a complete period appropriate repair. I would like the legs to still be removable and to have acceptable strength to support the case with it's 4" thick sound board (heavy!).
At one point, two of the legs had glue-soaked linen wrapped around the threads to build them up. 30+ years of storage probably accounted for the glue turning brittle and crumbling. I could potentially see this working if the sockets were waxed, and the linen was soaked with hide glue or maybe epoxy. Perhaps just thickened epoxy without the linen would be best.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. At this point, it is just sitting on the floor in my front parlor.
Thank you,
andrew
andrew rappaport