Hi David I guessed that the long massive bar in slides 9 and 10 was a kind of crown support. It goes roughly down the middle of the soundboard semi parallel to the tenor portion of the long bridge. It does not contact the beams or bracings no. The picture perhaps give that impression especially at the tail.. but it does not. The grain does go roughly perpendicular to the bridge yes. Yes... its an interesting dilemma. It sounded suprisingly ok before string down... particularilly in the bass. Tho it was a bit hallow and thin in the treble and not much sustain. Btw... for those speculating about how much compression and crown (if any) there was in the board. The cracks farthest bass side showed every sign of being compression ridge in origion. A straight edge placed on top showed that the wood adjacent to the cracks were high points... ridge like. I dont see really how some crown could be avoided given the cross grain orientation of the ribs. If they didnt dry out the board enough to result in some crown.. the thing would have just pulled apart in the winters... yes ?? Cheers RicB ------------ Pretty interesting and unusual by today's standards. The grain appears to be perpendicular to the bridge--do I see that right? Slide 9 and 10 appear to show a massive bass cutoff bar--is it attached to the bracing? It appears to be. At what point did Bluthner change the grain angle to be more parallel with the bridge? An interesting dilemma if you want to remain true to the original design yet produce something which will perform well. What did it sound like before you took it apart? I think Andre's analogy is a good one. David Love davidlovepianos@comcast.net Hi folks Below are links to several pics of the Bluthner... including a couple of the underside. I will get better shots of that when I remove the panel but these will suffice for now me thinks. Cheers RicB http://www.pianostemmer.no/pics/slide9.jpg http://www.pianostemmer.no/pics/slide10.jpg http://www.pianostemmer.no/pics/slide11.jpg http://www.pianostemmer.no/pics/slide12.jpg http://www.pianostemmer.no/pics/slide13.jpg http://www.pianostemmer.no/pics/slide14.jpg http://www.pianostemmer.no/pics/slide15.jpg http://www.pianostemmer.no/pics/slide16.jpg http://www.pianostemmer.no/pics/slide17.jpg
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC