reinstallation with

[Ron Nossaman]

>Well,  I think if the board was clamped back into the rim, with spacers 
>placed between the case struts and the bottom of the board, directly under 
>the  bridge, crown could be reinstalled.  Just bend that puppy in there and 
>when the glue dries there should be a very slight margin between the board 
>edges and the inside of the rim.  (which should be filled with something at 
>least as hard as maple. 
>Just a thought, think it could work?
>Ed

Sure, some crown could be forced in that way, but I have my doubts that it
would be of much benefit. The purpose and function of crown is to make the
board stiffer without adding mass by the compression of the panel under
string bearing load. This is true in both compression and rib crowned
systems. Bending a flat assembly back into a crown will give it the right
shape, but not the same internal dynamics it originally had, since bending
in the crown has lessened the compression in the panel. There will be some
support and stiffening from the leverage at the ends of the ribs and
perimeter of the panel, which might actually help the sound if it adds
enough stiffness with leverage to compensate for the lessened panel
compression (or introduced tension). Or it might not. If it did help, I'd
sure hate to have to guarantee for how long, or to what degree. If not,
it's a long expensive way back in to the point where the soundboard gets
torn out and replaced, and back out to where it can be listened to again
for comparison. The crown shape itself isn't the magic part, but just one
of the components of the magic. It's like Dale E said about de-stringing
and finding what appeared to be a decent crown until the board was removed
and it went flat, since the apparent crown was being held up by leverage at
the perimeter just like you described. If it worked, he wouldn't have been
replacing the board because it would have sounded fine before tear down. 

Just being cautious.


Ron N