Hi MMDers,  I have a question for the diehard piano rebuilders:  I've
come across a piano with a plate that has a built-in defect.  Along the
hitch pins near mid-tenor section is a slight 'bubble' in the plate.
The edge is bowed out along 8 or 9 notes so that it brings the string
out and ruins downbearing in this area.

The strings were actually pulling out on the bridge pins.  It's obvious
when you look straight down the plate from the treble end.  It must
have been a flaw when the plate was cast, this area bowed out for some
reason.  I could increase downbearing further along the whole plate but
that would be the wrong thing to do since the downbearing is already
perfect everywhere else after rebuilding the soundboard.

The only way to fix this that I can see is to extract the hitch pins
and sand or file the plate down in this area, and re-install the hitch
pins.  The hitch pins are the type that don't go all the way through
the plate.

Has anyone else run across this type of factory defect?

Brian Smith