Recrowning

[Ron Nossaman]

Jon,

This is one of those dangerous ideas from the old timers who used to routinely, and arbitrarily, lower plates when rebuilding to get downbearing in spite of the fact that the bearing was lacking *because* the board was flat. Wedging up, drying down, and s
himming the board did *seem* to restore crown when the board re-hydrated. The problem was that it lasted just about long enough to get through the next seasonal change (in the customer's home). At this time the (probably) lowered plate, and accompanying s
evere downbearing, helped push the board flat again... only worse than it was before it was "fixed/recrowned". The bottom line is, you can't save a dead soundboard. It's flat because the cellular structure of the wood has lost integrity. It's been tried m
any times and it DOESN'T WORK. I've seen way too much of it. If the soundboard's dead, replace it or walk away.

Hope this helps, Ron





At 09:11 PM 5/28/97 -0400, you wrote:
>I heard from a guy who claimed he can re-establish sound
>board crown with shims. Even if it has 3/8" negative crown.
>
>Can someone fill me in on what I might have missed in the
>last few years of trying to keep up with the last few hundred
>years?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Jon Page
>Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. (jpage@capecod.net)
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 Ron Nossaman