Crack fillers - old soundboards

[Farrell]

My take is interspersed below:

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: <Yardarm103669107@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 4:52 PM
Subject: Re: Crack fillers - old soundboards


> In a message dated 4/30/2001 2:14:21 PM Central Daylight Time,
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com writes:
>
> << Sometimes cracks cause buzzing. Filling them or proper shimming
>  will stop/prevent a buzz from a cracked soundboard >>
>
> The crack doesn't cause the buzzing but the pieces of splintered wood
> adjacent to each other across the gap of the crack.

OK

> Shims will always recrack
> along the glued edges at some point, so now there are three cracks instead
of
> one............snip.............. but over
> the years I've concluded (always subject to correction) that shimming is
just
> about as close to purely cosmetic as you can get; it makes the customer
(or
> buyer) think that there is no longer a problem, but the problem (the cause
of
> the original cracking) hasn't been fixed, just sidestepped.

I have not been doing this long enough to say what happens over the years.
What is the cause of the original cracking? I assume that either the board
was not dried enough when manufactured or the board has shrunk a tiny bit
and in one area the board was under a lot of tension during dry weather and
finally split. I should think that if you dry the board real well and glue
in a nice tight fitting shim, the repair should last as long as the rest of
the board. How is this sidestepping, and what is the cause of the original
cracking? I do agree that shimming is largely cosmetic. But I also refinish
the plate when I take it out. A lot of things on a piano are cosmetic.
Aren't they awesome looking?

> Delaminated ribs are indeed another issue and need to be addressed
> appropriately I'd appreciate
> your take on this.

Oops, were you only asking for my take on the delaminated ribs? Sorry, if
you were. Just ignore the above. What about the ribs? Clean out old glue as
much as possible, insert new glue, clamp. By delaminated ribs, I assume you
are talking about ribs separated from soundboard, rather than a rib actually
being of laminated construction. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Has this ever been tried?
Wouldn't that work well?

> PR-J