This may be a question for Jack Wyatt - or whoever. I am refurbishing an 1882 Woodward & Brown square grand (my first square!). New strings, scale, pinblock rebuild, soundboard shimms and bridges refurbish. My current task is to set downbearing. The soundboards in the treble areas flops all over the place. This is the area of board that is supported on the back side by the thin metal band that underlies the back edge. The metal band is supported by a small stick of wood to the back edge of the keybed. One can use a shorter or taller little prop there and support the soundboard at a higher elevation (more downbearing in the treble) or a shorter prop for a lower elevation (less downbearing). Is this an OK way to manipulate downbearing on these goofy things. I can only assume that one really does not want a whole lot of downbearing on this board - because of the apparent lack of support along the back edge. Can I manipulate the downbearing the treble range by supporting the soundboard higher or lower along the back edge? And what are reasonable downbearing targets for the various scale areas (high treble, treble, tenor, bass)? Thanks for any thoughts. Terry Farrell
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