[pianotech] Soundboard-to-Rib Repairs

[Ron Nossaman]

On 11/15/2011 11:46 PM, Paul Milesi wrote:
> I would like to know what benefits there are to making Soundboard-to-Rib
> Repairs on a piano.  I am referring here only to re-attaching loose ribs to
> soundboards on a fully strung, otherwise functioning piano.  Are there any
> advantages other than preventing or curing buzzes and rattles?  Is any crown
> restored, or anything else like that?  Is it possible to improve tone (other
> than stopping obvious buzzes) by making such repairs?


It's a minimal sort of repair. It may stop a buzz (though I haven't 
found more than a couple of buzzes in 30+ years caused by loose ribs, in 
"extreme basket case" instruments), but don't expect any crown 
restoration or real tonal improvement. If ribs are loose anywhere, the 
entire board is structurally shot and though it still makes noise, the 
soundboard isn't working at any desirable level and reattaching ribs 
won't fix what's wrong with it. Sorry, it is what it is and you don't 
have much to work with. For the entire time I've been in the business, 
most techs have (1) Not acknowledged (if they noticed) that most of the 
soundboards they hear are seriously deficient and (2) Want a cheap and 
easy fix for these unacknowledged deficiencies. This hasn't changed much 
with time.

Ron N