New board old rim

[Ron Nossaman]

>I'm rather new to rebuilding. I plan on installing a new soundboard in a 
>little grand.  This is a Baldwin from the early 40's. I just got the board 
>out today and noticed the mortises in the rim aren't even close to 
>pointing where they should be.  If I hold a straight edge across where the 
>ribs should be I find the mortises are pointing 20 to 30 degrees off.  I 
>went back to the board and sure enough, the installer chopped off the 
>corners of the ribs to make them fit.
>
>Question, do I do what the original installer did and hack the corners off 
>the ribs or do I try to correct the rim.
>
>Mike Bratcher


Either way, the rib to mortice fit it isn't critical to performance unless 
the rib end is deeper than the mortice and won't let you glue the panel 
down. I'd probably want to make the rim mortices point the right way, at 
least. Tender sensibilities, and all that. Maple inlay, or some epoxy 
thickened with wood flour will work fine.

Ron N