Epoxy & soundboards

[ANRPiano@aol.com]

List,

Now that I have a few moments to catch up on my list reading I would like to 
share my experience with the Del F. article on using very thin epoxy to 
stiffen soundboards.

This fall I had two candidates come in the shop.  New soundboards, would 
certainly have been called for, but economics made that an unreasonable 
solution.

The first piano was an upright of unknown origin but built like a tank from 
around 1890 (my guess), the second was a very small (4' 6" if you stretched 
the piano a bit) again of unknown origin but probably a P.A.Starck.  Neither 
piano was a functional instrument for a number of reasons but had tremendous 
sentimental value to their owners.  

Upon tearing down the upright I discovered most of three sides were unglued 
from the rim so I finished the job, figuring it would be easier to work on 
the soundboard out of the piano than inside it.  After drying the boards and 
repairing the many feet of cracks I applied epoxy as per Del's suggestions.

Once the boards were dry and reinstalled the results were very pleasing.  I 
know it doesn't always mean much, but I like to give my boards the old thump 
test just to see what they sound like.  Both had a remarkably long ring, 
especially the upright.  Of course none of this matters until the strings are 
on and you get to find out if you succeeded or failed.  Needless to say I was 
very pleased.  The small grand had very little of that nasally, choked sound 
you would expect from such a small piano and the upright had a great sound as 
well.  Both pianos had significant scaling problems which I was not able to 
completely solve but overall their sound in both quantity and quality was 
better than I had expected.

I would highly recommend this technique to anyone who has to squeeze a little 
more life out of a soundboard which has seen better days.  

Thanks Del.

Andrew Remillard

ANRPiano Service
2417 Maple Ave
Downers Grove, IL  60515
ANRPiano.com