split soundboard

[Ronald R Shiflet]

List,
	About 2 months ago, I brought in a studio piano for a restring
and new hammers job.  This piano is about 45 years old and for the most
part is in wonderful condition.  Most of its life has been spent in dry,
hot Arizona.  When I picked up the piano, it was in a home with an
evaporative cooler going.  I think the humidity was around 58% as
opposed to our usual 15%.  It was transported 10 minutes to my home and
put in an identical environment.
	I took the strings off, figured the scale and restrung it.  The
tension was down about a week.  There is now a huge noticeable split in
the soundboard right up the middle where it's plainly obvious.  There
were no splits when I picked it up.  This has happened before on an old
upright.  I'm sure that this is caused by an old dry board with
crystalizing glue undergoing a dramatic tension change.
	I'm going to let the tension down again and do a CA glue repair
but was wondering if I overlooked something.  Is there any way of
preventing this or seeing it coming?  I did try to get them to put a
climate control system on it and they refused.  Thanks in advance.

Ron Shiflet, RPT
Phoenix Chapter

PS, By the way, , In case you're wondering, no I don't just dream up new
threads to start but it seems to work out that way sometimes.