Soundboard Moisture Content

[Greg Newell]

Hi Ron,
         I remembered your spreadsheet and the book after I started this 
thread. Brain dead these days I guess. I also, NOW, remember that this 
thread came up before, maybe even from me.
         I appreciate knowing how you might handle a similar situation with 
a customer. I don't feel any direct responsibility to them regarding their 
soundboard problems but I am just a little on the spot for having 
recommended this piano for purchase. This is, perhaps, all in my mind as 
they haven't said anything about being dissatisfied with the piano ..... 
yet. Since their kids and mine are the same age and see each other in 
school I expect I'll be seeing them for some time to come so I have perhaps 
an even greater drive to help. More than anything though is my desire to 
understand what's going on.
         The current RH in the house is 30-35% as measured by their cheap 
little Radio Shack meter or my cheap little Dampp-Chaser meter. They have 
an older home and the piano is in a room with many windows and a floor 
which is part cantilevered over the foundation wall. They have a newer 
furnace with all the bells and whistles on it. They are friends with a 
heating / cooling contractor and this guy supposedly takes great care of 
them. It seems as though the house is tempered quite well but a Piano Life 
Saver system was installed maybe six months after the piano was purchased 
after discovering compression ridges, one in particular being rather large.

Still searching for answers,
Greg


At 07:24 AM 3/31/2004, you wrote:

>>The likely scenario is that I encounter this Petrof or similar 
>>piano/situation with the compression ridges and can then point to an 
>>unusually high reading on the meter suggesting that there are problems 
>>somewhere contributing to this phenomenon. Could you tell me how you 
>>address this kind of a situation?
>
>I show them the hygrometer reading and explain what's happening. If you 
>want to convert to MC, a chart is the easy method. You could even print 
>one for the customer (if they understand and are interested) from that 
>spreadsheet I passed out a while back.
>
>
>>I am in the rather sticky situation of having recommended this piano for 
>>purchase to this customer. They bought it second hand from another of my 
>>customers. It could be simply that the compression crowned board is doing 
>>what they all seem to do eventually. The timing stinks though since this 
>>happened within about 8 months of them making the purchase.
>
>I don't think the 10 year old soundboard suddenly expired after 8 months 
>in an environment similar to the one it had lived in up to that point. It 
>was either in trouble at the time of sale, or the environment in it's new 
>home is different - and detrimental. In this case, what's the RH% in the house?
>
>Ron N
>
>_______________________________________________
>pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives

Greg Newell
Greg's piano Forté
mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net