My answer was a bit flip but the overall quality of the tone (sustain being one part) will tell you a lot about the tonal potential in an old board. I'm sure if you could examine the wood cells under an electron microscope you would be able to see damage but, of course, not all the cells in the panel will be damaged just the weakest links in the compression chain. One interesting question is just how much cellular damage needs to take place before there is a noticeable degradation in tone. Admittedly, the science of the cellular degradation of the wood in soundboard panels in not part of my expertise. Careful listening before teardown will tell you more than you need to know. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Noah Frere Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 9:44 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: [pianotech] Soundboard Pictures I agree, although there is a degree of subjectivity there which I like to sometimes temper with science. Unfortunately, like an idiot, I didn't tune or even play very much the piano in question, so I won't have a solid before-after comparison in that regard. However, I did measure the sustain in seconds. That will at least be worth something. On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 12:11 AM, David Love <davidlovepianos at comcast.net> wrote: The proof of the pudding is in the listening. David Love www.davidlovepianos.com From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Noah Frere Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 8:11 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: [pianotech] Soundboard Pictures I have been reading for quite some time now, thanks to our wonderful restored Archives, about soundboards. However, I fear I will be up half the night with lots of ideas flying around, flying... So, I have been planning on shimming a 1909 B. Shoninger soundboard with large cracks, but was told it would be a waste of time, since the soundboard is dead. Now I don't want to start another round of arguments about this, so - are there any scientific pictures of soundboard compressed wood fibers compared to a new soundboard? In other words, microscopic photos of a "living" versus "dead" soundboard? And, any scientific data giving evidence of the "death" of an old board? Meanwhile I will continue reading, -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090212/113208b6/attachment-0001.html>
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