[pianotech] Belly talk

[Ron Nossaman]

On 11/30/2012 1:11 PM, Terry Farrell wrote:

> Maybe a good way to decide would be to build your soundboard and lay
> it in there on the rim - see how it mates to the rim. If the rim
> crown is pushing up the ends and you have to sit on the darn thing to
> bring it down to the rim, you might want to consider removing the
> crown. If, on the other hand, the original crown on the rim enhances
> good mating of the soundboard to the rim, for sure leave it.

Maybe I've lived a sheltered life, but I've never put in a board that 
didn't take a WHOLE LOT of forcing down to the rim in the base side tail 
and treble front. I've always found it entertaining and sort of sad when 
people (not you) go to great verbal lengths to justify how some piddly 
little contour modification to the rim would insure a stress free panel 
installation, usually with a CC soundboard with a panel that is already 
half crushed just by putting it together.

As to the "most important crown in the soundboard", it's physically 
impossible to avoid crown along the long bridge if there is crown along 
the ribs, as the perimeter is pressed and glued to a plane or nearly 
plane rim.

Ron N