More responses needed

[Joseph Garrett]

Wallace,
I agree with your reasoning, if an attempt is made to re-establish the
crown. I do force crown into a board when I shim, (with shims and epoxy).
The last one I did had reverse crown before the work was done. Afterwards it
had some crown. Not as good as a new board, but adequate enought to give
good sustain and breath life back into a soundboard that was, for all
intents and puposes, shot. How long will this repair last? I don't know, but
as long as the client has been given all the options, then I think it's
their choice. As long as we do the best we can to bring a bad situation to a
better level, then I think we have done the client a good service.
There are those who disagree with this, but not everyone can afford a new
board, nor do all instruments justify a new board. That's my approach. Hope
it helps answer your query.
Regards,
Joe Garrett, R.P.T.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wallace Scherer" <p003520b@pb.seflin.org>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2001 9:41 AM
Subject: More responses needed


> 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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>
>