Rib Thinning

[Overs Pianos]

Richard,

>Do I understand you to say that dowels even just through the panel 
>and bridge are not all that great an idea ? ... or just through the 
>ribs ?

Dowelling into ribs is the big no no, but it is more critical as 
Terry Farrell mentioned, when the ribs are designed entirely to 
support the down bearing. It doesn't matter at all to dowel through 
the panel, particularly with a rib crowned board where the primary 
purpose of the panel is to prevent air leaking past the ribs. It is 
quite common for manufacturers to dowel the bridges to the panel, but 
again it is not a great idea to use large dowels. While the bridge 
mass helps to produce sustain in an instrument, its stiffness helps 
to spread the support of the rib set evenly across the panel.

There is so much development waiting to be done with sound boards. 
Its a very interesting area and I'm looking forward to some of the 
projects we are undertaking this year.

By the way folks, we've got an Australasian convention coming up in 
the South Australian capital city of Adelaide this July. We've got a 
couple of visiting experts, Ron Nossaman and Roger Jolly, presenting 
classes. For further online details on the South Australian 
convention, please visit;

http://aptta.org.au/sa_conv_news.html

Best,
Ron O.
-- 
OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY
    Grand Piano Manufacturers
_______________________

Web http://overspianos.com.au
mailto:info@overspianos.com.au
_______________________