Real spruce

[Stephen Birkett]

[some snipping here to avoid overly long posting...Harvey's points on
sb pruce:]
> My best understanding of the spruce situation is this: for a long
> time we have been running out of quality spruce. Focus is on the
> word "quality" here.
> ...

`Quality' for sbs is not written in blood in a "designers handbook of
piano specifications". The modern notion of "perfection" for sbs
didn't creep in until the latter part of the 19th C. Earlier piano
builders had a different notion of perfection...Paul Poletti
mentioned that a c1800 Walter he recently restored had pitch pockets
and knots in the sb...and such "defects" are are quite common.
Ruckers harpsichord sbs often had similar "defects" which are covered
by the sb painting...and these sbs were prized for their acoustical
properties. Perhaps with dwindling resources (at least of the kind we
are used to in the 20th C)...it is time to reconsider our ideas of
perfection and accept that it is the cellular structure of spruce
which makes for good soundboards, not the pristine perfection which
is customarily demanded. I have seen no evidence that minor defects
in sbs have any effect on their quality. Is this another example of
blindly following tradition without questioning it?

> Item. Technicians need to educate themselves on the facts of
> laminate boards.
> They do have merits, although they will be in the "solid-state versus vacuum
> tube" argument stage forever. Or, until there is only option to discuss,
> whichever occurs first.
> ...

Laminated sbs are not actually the "solid-state version of real
spruce". They've been tried in the past. I know, at least, that
Pleyel used mahogany veneered sbs on some of their pianos in the
1830s. There were probably others too. It is a mistake to assume
that all our 20th C. technology is new. This option should be
examined, as others should be, with an open mind...from
economic view and from a physical view. Is there no difference? Is
it cheaper? etc. It is only through this process that the piano
industry will be able to adapt and respond to changing times.


Stephen Birkett (Fortepianos)
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
tel: 519-885-2228
fax: 519-763-4686