[pianotech] Wood over soundboard ribs

[David Love]

That type of cutoff (on the B) is relatively ineffective in stiffening the
longest ribs in the piano compared to what Ron has pictured.  There are
other types of cutoffs as well that don't necessarily get clamped down to
the bracing (as you see in Ron's photo) but are more substantial in size
such (than the B connector) as are often found on a Bluthner pianos.  There
the cutoff bar is approximately 2" x 2" made of spruce, maple or something
(can't recall) but adheres only to the rim at each end while riding above
the bracing.  That, I assume would be more effective than what you see on
the B but less than were the cutoff attached to the bracing creating, in
effect, the working rim of the piano.  There are lots of different
approaches to cutoff bars, some more substantial than others, and different
makers have their own philosophy including not using them at all.  It's
interesting to note that I was looking at a 1970s? Yamaha G3 the other day
that employed a full bass cutoff bar.  Curiously, the C series pianos don't
use them yet are considered to be a more refined model.  That G3 still
sounded pretty good, all things considered.  

David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 5:24 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Wood over soundboard ribs

On 11/8/2010 6:00 AM, limhseng at gmail.com wrote:
> Hi List
> This NY Steinway B has a piece of wood over 5 soundboard ribs on the bass
side. What is it for and what does it do?
> Thanks.
> Lim


It's an attempt to compensate for the too long ribs, rather than having
installed the cutoff bar that should have been there.
Ron N