More responses needed

[Wallace Scherer]

Dear list members,

A recent discussion I started about applying epoxy to cracks in the 
soundboard of an old Winter piano which had strings and tuning pins 
replaced by another technician about 5 years ago, led to the conclusion 
by about 5 or 6 people who responded that repairing cracks in soundboards 
is mainly for cosmetic reasons and will not affect the tone significantly.

To me this goes against the whole purpose a soundboard exists! Take the 
analogy of a speaker cone:

Lets say that we have a radio or other sound producing device whose sole 
output is through a 15" woofer loudspeaker. If we then take a razor blade 
and make a series of randomly spaced  slits about 2" to 3" long around 
the sides of the speaker cone, wouldn't we expect the tonal quality of 
the speaker's output to be diminished considerably? And if, then, we 
proceeded to seal those slits in some manner so as to come close to 
having the speaker cone intact again, wouldn't we expect an improvement 
in the sound from when the cone had the slits in it?

The reduction in sound (volume, tonal quality, etc.) of the speaker with 
the slits is due to its not being intact - the movement of the cone does 
not faithfully reproduce the sound it is supposed to make because its 
surface area does not respond uniformly. 

In like manner, especially in the lower frequencies of the bass notes of 
a piano, when the larger area of a soundboard must faithful reproduce 
those lower frequencies and transmit them to the air without 
interruption, if the surface area is broken up by cracks, the movement of 
the soundboard is impeded, therefore greatly reducing the volume of the 
sound reaching the hearer.

Because of the basic physics of sound production, it therefore does not 
make any sense to me that repairing the cracks of a soundboard (assuming 
that the bridge, ribs, strings, etc., are all in good condition) would  
not somewhat improve the sound of the bass section.

Since so few of you responded to this, I would like to ask more of you to 
respond, especially those who have had considerable experience in 
repairing cracked soundboards.

The question is this:

Assuming that the ribs, bridge, and strings are all good, would only 
repairing 10 fine, but rather long (10" or more) cracks in a soundboard 
make a noticeable difference in the bass section of a piano? (Let's also 
asume there is little or no crown.)

Thank you.

Wally Scherer
Palm Beach County, Florida
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