[pianotech] Restoring Crown to Undamaged Soundboard

[Jim Busby]

I have done as Del listed as an alternative (below) 4 times, and it is fairly "fast and easy" but still does not produce a soundboard that "sings" like a new board. Del and Ron are right, a new board is by far best and the only way I'll go from now on. I've always regretted that the four pianos are not near what they could be. 

Jim Busby

________________________________________
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Delwin D Fandrich [del at fandrichpiano.com]
Sent: Monday, July 06, 2009 3:12 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Restoring Crown to Undamaged Soundboard

I thought about it for some time as well. My conclusion remains--as does
Ron's--that there is no practical method of restoring and/or reproducing crown
in a collapsed soundboard.

There are a few rebuilders who remove the original soundboard assembly from the
piano, remove the ribs and replace them with crowned ribs. The idea being to
keep the original soundboard panel and any mystical tone producing properties it
is thought to possess. Personally, as I fail to fully appreciate these mystical
properties, I find it more practical to simply knock the original board out of
the piano and make a new one.

If the piano does not warrant the expense of a new soundboard and ribset then
the best alternative I've come up with to date is the epoxy saturation and
coating method I described several years back in the Journal. Quite a few
technicians have now tried this technique with reasonable success. It does not
give the performance of a new board but it is better than the alternatives I've
tried.

ddf

| -----Original Message-----
| From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org
| [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Ron Nossaman
| Sent: July 06, 2009 9:43 AM
| To: Roy; pianotech at ptg.org
| Subject: Re: [pianotech] Restoring Crown to Undamaged Soundboard
|
| As I recall, Ron's conclusion was that it seemed to work well
| enough, but wasn't realistically worth the time and
| aggravation. I've thought for a long time, and it's been
| mentioned to me by a few others as well, that the best chance
| would be crowned rib side laminations, likely of about 3mm
| maple, jacked up against the panel and glued to the rib sides.
| With the tooling and techniques to develop, the lack of room
| to work, and inaccessibility of the high treble in any case,
| it still seems like an expensive and probably ugly kludge.
|
| It's been wished for many times through a lot of years, but
| to my knowledge no one's come up with a practical method that
| actually works.
| Ron N
|