Repairing the Bottom Beam of an Upright Piano

On this piano, my original mission was to replace the casters. At some point, they had previously been replaced with 3" industrial casters. That created a pedal height which was quite uncomfortable

However, when I examined the bottom of the piano for the bores needed to accept new piano casters, I found extensive damage. The caster bores were damaged and the the bottom beam had lost its rear lamination.

At some point in its history, the bottom of the piano was damaged, and a piece of pine was nailed into the bottom beam to provide some sort of support for the rear caster.

Removing the nailed in piece of pine revealed the damage at the original caster location. I would assume that the piano was damaged as it descended some steps without the aid of a skid board.

When the piano was damaged the center post was pulled out of alignment. I guess this is an indication that the piano is over-built, as this back post wasn't doing much of anything.

I was able to pull the center post back into alignment with a hidden,recessed lag screw.

I replaced the damaged block with a new block of ash hardwood

The missing lamination was replaced with a piece of poplar hardwood

As good as new. When doing repair work, I enjoy giving an old piano this level of respect.

And finally, new quality casters are installed while the piano is on the tilter.