> Would anyone care to share their technique for locating and notching rib > ends into the inner rim? I make a Masonite pattern, and rout the mortises - an idea stolen from Del Fandrich. I don't know if he originated it, but the mortises found in Baldwins look similar. > My first piano I used two sided tape on the rib ends and set the board > in - the tape stuck to the inner rim and I used this to cut the notch. I tape the ribs in the mortises with locater pins in the rib ends, then drop the panel in so the pins mark it for later assembly outside the piano. > This was not as accurate as I would have liked. > Some of the other problems were the shape of the rib end - being tapered > presented some difficulty with this notching - trying to match the taper > was not easy. On the second piano the rib ends are flat. > Also the depth of the notch - should the depth of notch exactly match > rib end hight? Be slightly deeper? I make the mortises both deeper and wider than the rib ends. There's no mechanical or acoustic reason to fit the ribs to the mortise. > How thick or thin should the rib end be? Thinner is better in my mind. I cut mine about 4.5mm. > Is there a limit on how thin? They don't even have to be mortised into the rim at all, except there may be a tendency for the panel to crack on the bent side where the grain runs tangent to the inside curve. Ron N
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