Hi Jon, Well Ollie, this is certainly a fine kettle of fish. Did you get an RH% where the piano was before teardown, when you took the initial bearing readings? I'm wondering if the soundboard might have been dryer and lower when you got it than it is now. If so, it'll probably go back to where it was when it's strung. How high WERE the nose bolts anyway? It's hard to imagine they made that much difference, so I'd tend to think the crown at the time of measurement was a major factor. Old soundboards deflect easier than new ones. It's really weird to find zero bearing in the high treble too. Did you look (feel?) for broken ribs up there? I've seen it, but not often. I believe I'd make bearing adjustments based on teardown measurements as much as what you see now. I'd probably grind down the underside of the treble duplex a little to try to get some bearing there, shim under the mid tenor duplex a little (not much) to try to split the difference between what the high nose bolts produced, and what the current position shows you. Any is probably better than none, but a lot may leave you with too little bearing after the board is loaded. I'd probably leave the bass and low tenor alone and go with what you've got, since the new improved nose bolt position ought to help a little. The rub is, it's hard to know what you should have done until you've already done it and can more easily see the mistakes. At least that sums up my experience with this kind of thing. It's a balancing act, and you can't really be too sure how the old board will react, so I don't try for optimal bearing configurations in these situations so much as trying to fudge things toward "better" without going too far... hopefully. Conservative seems to work better for me than does fearless in these situations. Good luck, and report back once in a while so we know you're OK. <G> Ron N
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