Soundboard Removal

[Ric Brekne]

Hi Don

I cant help you with the journal article, but I can offer a few thoughts.

In general, a bit of heat, solvent, and pressure works great. The 
effectiveness of alcohol is dependant on the type of glue you are trying 
to loosen however.  A way that has worked well for me is to suspend the 
instrument from the underside around the edge of the panel. Then apply 
continued heat and moisture over a period of a couple days.  Heat can be 
applied by a length of heating cable or a series of lights. You can keep 
the edge of the panel moist in a variety of ways but if it stays moist 
continuously the glue will loosen sooner.  I like to hedge my bets by 
mixing up a bit of alcohol, wallpaper solvent, and water together.  Just 
keep the joint moist, and heated and in a day or so the panel will just 
pop out.  Patience is the key. Dont push on it, or force the issue.  Let 
the glue simply soften and give way.

You can take off the old ribbing in similiar fashion. This is actually 
my prefered method of repairing cracks in soundboards.  Instead of 
shimming, I just pull the soundboard back together and glue along 
existing cracks. New ribs can be attached as desired and you can 
re-establish crown in your prefered fashion.

I'm about to get started on an old first year production Julius Bluthner 
Patent Grand and will be using this basic approach to repairing the 
soundboard. I have to try and find out what degrees of crown old Julius 
used way back when, and how achieved it first.  That kind of info seems 
difficult to be sure of.

Cheers
RicB

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Could someone identify the somewhat recent issue of the Journal having the
article pertaining
to removing a soundboard using alcohol.  For some reason, I cannot seem to
locate it.
Don Valley