Soundboard question

[Richard Brekne]

Hi folks.

Getting ready for another soundboard replacement job and am considering 
trying out something I've been pondering for a while.  Since wood seems 
to have so much <<fun>> expanding and contracting with every change of 
climate with all this implies for soundboard useage, why not 
pre-compress a panel before ribbing so as to take it just past its 
compression limit ?  Say give it about 25 % compression set.  Once thats 
done it will have less ability to expand/contract with climate changes. 
Ribbed so as to conform to your basic RB & S type panel it should remain 
then quite stable and there should be less of a possibility for the 
panel to experience tension cracks as years go by.... ??

Thanks for any thoughts on or off list.

Cheers
RicB