Soundboard Cracks

[Jon Page]

Shimming cracks is a cosmetic repair, I would never consider this
for an upright. As long as the rib/sound board joint is secure, you
are doing well. It adds nothing to the sound, but I guess it has the
Charlie Brown effect: "It's like wetting your pants in a dark suit.
It gives you a warm feeling but nobody notices".

As long as the ribs are tight, the crack is not important.
There may be the isolated incident where the faces of adjoining
boards vibrate together, but a little glue forced in with a finger you the
judicious placement of a scrap of business card handles that.

One summer, I left a single-edged razor blade stuck in between the rib
and board to eliminate the buzz until the heat came on and I could force
some glue into the joint and wedge the board from top and bottom to
secure it without worrying about further drying. Whew.

Otherwise, I just screw in from the front and where the plate interferes,
from the back.

Keep it neat,

Jon Page



At 04:26 PM 11/30/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>All the technical information I have deals with shimming soundboard
>cracks in uprights with the piano destrung.  I read one post in the
>archives about using epoxy to fill them.  Is anyone using a method to
>stabilize or repair cracks without destringing?  (Economical
>considerations not important for this post).  Thanks.
>
>Tom Robinson
>East Tennessee - Land of the "Upright Grand"
>  
Jon Page,  Harwich Port,  Cape Cod,  Mass.  mailto:jpage@capecod.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~