Crown without soundboards

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Ron Nossaman wrote:

> Hi Jim,
>
> Even with cracks, the soundboard panel is still doing pretty much the same
> thing it always did everywhere except where the cracks are. If the panel
> were pushing against the rim to maintain crown, there couldn't be both open
> cracks, and crown in the board. The crown is being maintained from millions
> of discrete points, to varying degree, everywhere the soundboard panel and
> ribs meet and the glue joint is still sound. Gaping cracks totaling 1% of
> the total panel area will have nearly no affect on the crown because the
> other 99% is still doing it's job. If there is still crown in the cracked
> board, it's because both the ribs and the panel are still doing their job.
> As long as the glue joints are tight and the panel wood hasn't been crushed
> beyond hope (overall), it will still be a soundboard of sorts.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The key phrase being, "of sorts." Any soundboard that has been riddled with that many cracks will have sustained so much
fiber damage that it will be pretty much unable to support much in the way of crown. At least not if there is much in the way
of string downbearing. The only time I've been able to measure any crown in a board like this is when there is no downforce
from the strings pushing it down.

Now it is certainly possible that if the ribs were crowned they could still be supporting soundboard crown. If that were the
case, however, it would be unlikely to find that many cracks in the soundboard panel.

Del