[CAUT] Soundboard mass

[Richard Brekne]

I've thought about this problem quite a bit and dont really see why one 
cant drill a say 6 mm hole right down into the bridge itself... from the 
top. Epoxy in place a 6 mm piece of brass stock and leave enough space 
on the top so you can plug with wood so as to make the thing look 
seamless. 

Course it might make for an interesting recapping job in the future... 
but thats another problem :)

Cheers
RicB


    OK, so you've discovered via vice grips clamped to rear bridge pins
    that the
    top couple octaves would benefit from some added mass. Problem is
    that the
    top octave of the board is above the belly rail. There's no more than a
    quarter inch of clearance in this region between the top of the
    belly rail
    and the bottom of the ribs.

    Solution: drill a hole through the keybed, up through the belly
    rail. Hang a
    brass weight. I'm thinking that I'll need to drill maybe a 1.25" (or
    maybe
    1.375") hole to allow some clearance for my 1.125" diameter brass
    stock as
    it will be hanging down into the belly rail.  I don't know yet how
    much mass
    will be effective, but I'm thinking that I'll try at least 100g to begin
    with. This is a M&H BB with adequate sustain but the weight of the vice
    grips added some body and carry to that sustain.

    Anyone ever done this? Seems I remember Ron N doing something like this.

    Thanks for your thoughts and experience.

    Alan