> In John Barnes's book and drawing of the spinet, he references that 
> there were something like 10 iron tacks that were driven in from the 
> soundboard into the bridge along its length to reinforce the joint 
> between the soundboard and bridge.  

Ruckers and many others did the same but the tacks are not 
reinforcements. Rather, they were "clamps" for the gluing. The tacks 
inserted, the board ona flat surface, glue applied and the bridge 
driven onto the tacks. 
In the 19th.c. piano makers went over to screws with wooden "washers" 
but these were added AFTER the bridge was glued on. Actual gluing was 
certianly done with gobars as it is today. These screws are a sort of 
"insurance" should the bridge come unglued. Actually they are really 
only good for the maker's peace of mind.

b





> On the photos of the restored instrument on Peter Barnes's webpage, 
> there appear to be squares of some sort of hardwood glued to to the 
> soundboard with brass screws going through them into the bridge.  I 
> presume the hardwood squares are there to give the screw better 
> purchase on the soundboard than it would have against the soft spruce 
> alone, and that they are probably located where the tacks previously 
> had been.
> 
> So is reinforcing the bridge to soundboard joint a common thing 
> across various building traditions?  It seems like it would be.  What 
> are the best ways of going about it, especially for a small bridge 
> (1/2 in wide) such as on an English spinet?
> 
> Thanks in advance!
> 
> Also many thanks to Peter for posting those pictures on his website.  
> They along with Peter Mole's PhD thesis have been of invaluable help 
> in building.
> 
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Note:  opinions  expressed on HPSCHD-L are those of the  individual con-
tributors and not necessarily  those of the list owners  nor of the Uni-
versity of Iowa.  For a brief  summary of list  commands, send mail to
[log in to unmask]  saying  HELP .
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