Please help a newbee understand. I am trying to picture where the stiffness is in soundboards. If you consider the typical compression type that has ribs and board pressed into a caul, then the ribs are pulling the board toward the flat side or the position that the ribs want to come to rest. Is this creating stiffness in the soundboard? The reason I ask is that recently I had a chance to be instructed on how to handle a new soundboard out of the box without ribs attached. It quickly bacame obvious how fragile they are in this state. Any mishandling could easily cause a fracture. Then I think about the grain orientation and how the bridges are aligned to this with exception of the extreme treble and maybe some of the bass. Along the grain is the weakest part of the board - am I wrong? So where is the stiffness. Also curious, is board stiffness something that can be calculated? Is it a factor in rib design? Is it used to calculate how bearing is supported? Or is board stiffness related only to musical qualities? Thank you very much.
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC