Hole in Soundboard for Damp Chaser cord

[Ron Nossaman]

>Ron N said: "Not for any good reason I know of. Why?
>
>Ron,
>Obviously you haven't run into one that had a Buzz! Or, some hack had 
>"chewed" a hole in the S.B.! Personally, I just don't like the idea of 
>putting another hole in a S.B. To me, it's just asking for trouble. Oh, 
>and then there's the one that was moved without unplugging it 
>first..ripped/split up the sound nicely. Any other questions?<G>
>Joe Garrett, R.P.T.


Joe,
Just an observation or two. Drilling a hole in the soundboard isn't the 
problem, though doing it indiscriminately, crudely, and/or stupidly might 
be. Having seen poorly hung hammers and badly notched bridges doesn't mean 
we shouldn't hang hammers and notch bridges. It just means we should at 
least try to have some idea of, and reason for what we're doing. To you, 
making a hole in a soundboard is asking for trouble, and that's fine, but 
that doesn't make it a no-no. I've seen and perpetrated a lot of holes in 
soundboards that were quite acceptable looking (though not always), did no 
discernable functional damage to the board, and caused no problems 
whatsoever for many many years. I've only seen a couple of problem 
instances, both due to poor planning and execution. For folks that move 
pianos without unplugging them, a power cord that's properly secured to the 
back of the piano will rip the wall outlet out before it damages the board.

At least that's my opinion.

Ron N