Seperated Ribs

[Ron Nossaman]

At 03:18 PM 11/20/1999 -0800, you wrote:
>I serviced a S&S 41" vertical (anyone know the model name on this?)
>yesterday for a client who inherited it from her sister.  The dealer in
>Boston who appraised it for her to settle the estate noted soundboard
>cracks, but did not elaborate.  The piano is in her basement (quasi heated)
>and was 25 cents sharp.  Problem is that the ribs have all separated all
>along the crack.  The separation is about 4 to 6 inches at 1 or 2 ribs and
>the soundboard is about 3 or 4 mm from the rib.  I have heard of working
>glue into the separation and drawing the joint together with a wire clamp,
>although I have never had the opportunity to do it myself. Question I have
>is whether this is possible on this major of a failure.   Should I make an
>attempt to dry the assemby out somewhat by placing it onits back with a
>heater underneath or work with it in its ambient condition?
>

If the piano still sounds OK, do it to help prevent it's getting worse (at
least, right away). If it doesn't sound OK, it won't fix anything. Don't
spend a lot of time on it in any case.



Ron N