Soundboard Color

[Delwin D Fandrich]

Terry,

Are you sure the soundboard is made of spruce?  Quite a number of other
woods have been used over the years, including various cedars and (I think)
redwood (although probably not in France).

Del


----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: September 12, 2000 5:45 AM
Subject: Soundboard Color


> Most soundboards I cut into are very light colored. The soundboard in the
> 1890 Estey grand (subject of my last post) is very dark (surface and
> throughout), kinda like a golden brown, much like maybe cherry heartwood.
I
> took a class from someone (???who was it???) in KC about evaluating old
> soundboards. One thing he said was that if the soundboard is dark, it is
> shot. Does anyone know anything about such criteria? Anyone with
experience
> one way or another? Please educate me. The wood otherwise seems lovely. I
> just figured it was beautiful spruce heartwood from huge spruce trees that
> are no longer available.
>
> Terry Farrell
> Piano Tuning & Service
> Tampa, Florida
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
>