Soundboards: Thickness and Area

[Erwinspiano@aol.com]

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         Glenn
  You're asking the hard technical questions. My engineer friend say that 
when his friends get picky with details the comment is "hey your not building a 
piano ya know" I take that as a compliment. In this case we are but fortunately 
board thinning isn't a mystery. It however helps to have an organized 
approach to thinning. If you ask 5 belly guys how they do it you'll get five 
different answers.
   The amount of thinning depends on what your goals is & what you think is 
benifiacial to freeing up the edges of a board. The thinning in most regimines 
includes thinning along the spine(straight side), on around the tail around 
the curve and stopping short of the top treble area which needs no or little 
thinning.
Some also thin along the belly rail up to the offset of the board ,which is 
sometimes desireable depending on the overal thickness of the board to start.
  Thinning is mostly restricted

Glenn ,Yes I have & you are correct. First it's possible to take measurements 
around the bolt holes with a wire caliper. 2nd small holes drilled behind the 
bridge or around the edges & later filled with a toothpick is kosher, but why 
would you wish to do this?

   I've done this only once & that was to diaphramize a very thick board in a 
Yamaha C-7. I also refinished the board afterwards so no big deal. The board 
was .400 thick in the middle and tonally a bit stingy. Thinning it helped to 
reveal a more lively tone i.e. better sustain.

  Regards-Dale




You've got me with "why would you want to", I admit to this recurring 
obsession to collect data, and that includes soundboards. It is, you're right, 
academic only unless you're working on a board in place, but that brings one other 
question to mind. If you have a full board ready to install, and you decide to 
thin it, how DO you measure your planing progress ?
regards,
Glenn

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