followup to: Crack fillers - old soundboards

[Wallace Scherer]

Hi again,

Thought I'd follow up some of the excellent responses and elicit some 
further advice after clarifying the issue.

Based on what I have heard on the list and based on what the customer 
seems to want and not want, here's what I have in mind doing now. Any 
further advice or words of caution will be appreciated. 

1. From underneath the piano I will place electrical tape over the 10 or 
so cracks. I will also place some dropcloths on the floor in case the tape 
doesn't prevent all the drips.

2. Because of time/money/travel constraints, I will not try to pre-heat 
the area or force the soundboard up with wedges.

3. From the top of the piano, with a syringe and needle I will squirt 
some thin epoxy into the 10 cracks, being careful not to drip any on the 
strings, which will remain in place.

4. After the epoxy dries, and the tape is removed, the soundboard MAY (but 
may not) have a slightly improved sound. (The bass section is all dead now.)

Note: Removing the strings, inverting the piano, or removing the piano from 
the house are not options. There is no buzzing - just a dead bass 
section. Strings are in good shape.

One further question: Has anyone who has used the epoxy crack filling 
method on soundboards noticed any appreciable improvement in sound?

Thanks again,

Wally Scherer
Palm Beach County, Florida
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 15:55:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: Wallace Scherer <p003520b@pb.seflin.org>
To: pianotech@ptg.org
Subject: Crack fillers - old soundboards

Has anyone out there tried any innovative approaches to sealing cracks in 
soundboards on old, cheap, baby grand pianos? I'm thinking about 
something on the order of a medium thickness CA glue, or some other 
liquid type of material that would fill in the crack. 

My customer has an old Winter baby grand with about 10 cracks in the 
soundboard, but none are very wide, not even paper thickness. She doesn't 
want to spend much money 
and is willing for me to experiment some. But I thought I'd better see if 
anyone else has experimented first. 

Wally Scherer
Palm Beach County, Florida  
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