Pressure ridges, (probably again)

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Inre pressure ridges onsoundboards, 
Brian writes:
> I personally do NOT find
>>them harmless to the resale value, nor do I believe them to be desirable
>"design features".
 
>Hence, I'm fairly sure that Jim Bryant had his tongue pressed "firmly
>against the inside of his cheek" when it said not to worry about these
>"design features."

Greetings, 
   Maybe in a new piano, fresh out of the crate, excessive topography on the 
board would be suspicious looking, but otherwise, I don't worry about the 
irregularities of a  soundboards surface, but I used to.  I even scraped a 
soundboard flat, one fine summer afternoon many years ago,(skeleton in 
closet, go no further). 
    I have been tuning some old pianos that have "that sound" in the studios, 
and several of them don't look so good,  every summer the boards pucker  up a 
little, every winter they flatten out. However, these pianos have sounded 
great and given no board problems for the last 24 years,  under heavy 
scrutiny!  
    The same holds true for many residential customers' pianos,  plenty of 
ridges, but no problems, so if compression ridges are a compromise in the 
musical quality,  I don't see the evidence.  Of course, loose planks and ribs 
will cause noise, and opening cracks in the winter may rattle, but most of 
the pianos with obvious ridges in the boards function just fine.  Some of the 
worst looking boards are found in some of the best sounding pianos I see.  
Regards, 
Ed Foote