Soundboard grain angle

[Phillip L Ford]

On Tue, 4 Dec 2001 20:07:46   
 Delwin D Fandrich wrote:
>

>But this does bring up another subject. Why are we so picky about the
>perceived 'quality' of our soundboard wood. The soundboard is simply a
>(more-or-less) two-dimensional, wave-carrying medium.

Oh, Del, now you've done it.  I can hear JD now saying "I thought you said that
waves didn't travel in the soundboard".

>Some years ago I examined a piano soundboard made up of shorts end-glued
>together. The end-glue joints were made something like a lying down Z. After
>nearly 100 years the joints were still sound and the board worked just fine.
>I'm going to do this one day soon--just to prove a point.

Interesting.

>
>The problem here is that as we continue to demand only the super-premium
>wood for our soundboards we ensure a tremendous amount of waste.

And we insist on these super-premium woods even for the most low end pianos, so that
the salesman can use it as a marketing tool.  This is a crime.  If (and from what you're
saying that's a big if) it makes a difference then the super-premium wood should go in
a super-premium piano.

> And, quite
>frankly, we don't have that many trees to waste them just to please our
>aesthetic taste and to fit a bunch of rules that no longer apply. If they
>ever did.

Agreed.  Last night a friend showed me the new flooring that she is planning to use for
her remodeled condo.  Bamboo.  As I was looking at it I thought, this would make a good
piano rim, especially for many less than premium makes that I could name, from certain
continents that I could name.  The stuff is essentially a grass and grows to harvest size
in something like 5 years.  Use of materials like this might stop the wholesale cutting of
North American forests.   This is just an example, and maybe not a workable one.  But, if
we don't start exploring some options like this it may not be long before there are no
super-premium materials even for the super-premium instruments that might benefit from
them.

 For example, take a good, close look at the wood used in some of
>the late 19th century and early 20th century pianos. We would reject it out
>of hand as not being 'good' enough.
>
>Ok, end of rant.
>
>Del
>
>
One of my favorite pianos is a BB Mason-Hamlin that belongs to a friend.  If you look at the
frame braces each one is cut from pine or spruce that would end up on the fire nowadays.
No tight grain, obvious knots, non-uniform color, etc.  But what a piano.  Perhaps it's time
to let common sense and our ears dictate what materials go into making a good piano
and not what the marketing department says makes a good piano.

Phil


---
Phillip Ford
Piano Service & Restoration
1777 Yosemite Ave - 215
San Francisco, CA  94124