Was it something I said?

[Richard Brekne]

Just a side note on this... There is a fellow here in Norway / Sweden that goes
so far as to remove the soundboard from the case, remove the ribbing, and push
and glue the panel together again. He adds extra soundboard material at the edges
where nesseccary to arrive at the same size panel. Then reglues the ribs and the
soundboard assembly back into the piano.

He swears by this method... insures the ribbing and the joint to the rim.. and
according to him does not take him enough extra time to do to cause him any worry
at all. He only repairs boards that really need repairing and generally leaves
small cracking alone.

On the side on the side.... there has also been a deal of criticism about the
heat generated by the use of a router, and the fact that the router cuts in a
circular "gougeing" motion. There is a special circle saw available in Germany...
(costs a bunch) that does a superb job of cutting the channel, tho this cuts a
squared channel and not a "V"d one.

What ever turns you all on folks. I admire anyone who does their upmost to insure
the kind of quality and workmanship a human of senstitve conscious demands to be
sure. Reflects well on their work otherwise... but in this case... all in all...
epoxy is really just fine for this kind of repair. Works well, lasts a long
time... looks good with a little care.

My 15 øre's worth (approximately 2 cents)

Ron Nossaman wrote:

>
> I shim, but don't see anything wrong with epoxy either. I just enjoy wood
> chopping. Supply house shimming knives belong to the supply houses. Let
> them keep theirs and make a nice sharp one that works for yourself. You
> have to cut or scrape, rather than compression wedging the V. If the board
> and shims are properly dried, the V is cleanly cut, and the shim goes the
> full depth of the panel thickness, the incidence of cracking later is low.
> Most of the time, when I see cracked shimming work where the rest of the
> panel isn't cracking up too, the shim depth was less than the panel
> thickness. Shims cut from old panels aren't deep enough, in my opinion, and
> that's why I make mine from new stock.
>
> Just another opinion.
>
> Ron N

--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway
mailto:Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no