Fwd: epoxy treatment on soundboards

ANRPiano@aol.com ANRPiano@aol.com
Wed, 26 May 2004 11:18:21 EDT


---------------------- multipart/mixed attachment

-------------------------------1085584700
Tom,
Thank you so much for writing about this. ....... Oh, well, it's an 
experiment!

So, I'm wondering about a few things. Do you coat both sides of the board, or 
is it just too much trouble as Del suggests?
Such a simple question now keeps me up at night!  If you ever get a chance, 
spend an hour all by yourself with a Fazioli, you will not be the same 
afterward.  The level of craftsmanship and attention to detail exceeds anything I have 
ever seen any where.  So far I have been just coating the top side since it 
is the only side we have sufficient access to, but I am beginning to rethink 
this approach.
I would imagine that a new Fazioli is epoxied top and bottom to seal out 
moisture more effectively. Much easier to do when the board is out of the piano, 
though.

I don't believe Fazioli uses an epoxy, but rather he talked about a special 
lacquer which sealed the wood.  When you meet your first Fazioli, crawl 
underneath it, the underside of the soundboard looks better than most manufacture's 
top side!

Do you top coat with lacquer or varnish? Do you need to do a lot of sanding 
to level out the epoxy?

The last board I did I actually sprayed on my all purpose waterborne lacquer 
... no problems, it flowed out better than on raw wood, great adherence, etc.  
I use the system three epoxy because it is water white; no discoloration, 
water thin; is absorbed into the wood some, and I can put on very thins coats.  
The one draw back is the slow cure rate, the board picks up all kinds of junk 
which needs to be sanded out.  This stuff is HARD! and difficult to sand, I use 
150 grit paper and a small board will use at least two sheets.

I've been using the West Systems epoxy which seems to go on fairly thick (it 
flows like honey, maybe a little thinner). The first coat ends up being pretty 
uneven and takes a lot of sanding to level it out before the second coat. It 
seems like a much thinner primer coat would even out the variable 
absorbability of the different areas. Has this been a problem with System Three?

Not with a light coat.

You were looking for answers in your post but hope you don't mind some 
questions instead.

Tom Cole
Santa Cruz, CA

ps: Speculating on your question (Does epoxy work well on new soundboards?), 
I would think that it would affect how you designed the board. Since it would 
add stiffness, then you would need to make the panel thinner to get the right 
"impedence match", n'est-ce pas?
Well, that is what was bouncing around the empty spaces of my skull the other 
night, keeping me awake.  It will certainly stiffen the board, but how to 
measure it is an issue and how to best compensate for it is also a question.

Good luck on your experiment.



Andrew Remillard 
2417 Maple Ave
Downers Grove, IL 60515

-------------------------------1085584700
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/be/08/76/ff/attachment.htm

-------------------------------1085584700--

---------------------- multipart/mixed attachment
An embedded message was scrubbed...
From: ANRPiano@aol.com
Subject: Re: epoxy treatment on soundboards
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 08:13:25 EDT
Size: 7636
Url: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/17/9e/7f/38/attachment.eml

---------------------- multipart/mixed attachment--

This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC