Interesting ideas here in this thread. Thanks guys. The idea of laminated soundboards has me musing over this little poser... If we're dealing with a laminated soundboard panel, how important is grain direction? Seriously, if it is a laminated panel, it probably has grain going in at least two directions already. If the grain of the 'exterior' laminations is going in what would appear the conventional orientation, it might be possible that there may be a core who's grain is running about 90 degrees to that. Would a change in core material (just for argument's sake I'll say from red fir in the treble to eastern white pine in the bass), somewhere in the mid tenor region perhaps, be a way to lessen the overall stiffness in the bass end of the panel and provide a more flexible / more movable transducer (is that the right word?) in the bass end of the panel while keeping the top end more stiff ? As an aside, I did see an example of a laminated spruce soundboard in a new piano recently. (I can't remember the name, was it Story & Clark maybe?) They used a solid spruce core and spruce laminations on both sides. I did think it was somewhat fascinating that someone would go to that trouble, although I would think it might be slightly more stable with changes in humidity. Interesting thread. Best wishes, Brian Trout Quarryville, PA btrout@desupernet.net > This idea has been talked around for some time. Go out to your shop and look > at a soundboard in a typical piano and you'll see why it wouldn't do much > good. Follow the grain line. > > Del > >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC