Soundboard Removal

[Dean May]

Ric, 

I don't know if you have them in Scandinavia but we have rope lights
over here- long pieces of vinyl tubing with tiny little lights suspended
in the center of the tube. 20' or so of rope consumes about 100 watts
which would translate mostly into heat. And they are very flexible. I
wonder if one of those on the bottom and the top would produce the
desired effect. 

BTW, I've really grown fond of decorating with these lights- they can
produce a very stunning designer effect for not much cost. I put one
under a handrail around a deck on a motion detector. It produces a very
soft indirect light that washes down the spindles. Perfect for night
time conversations on the deck (no good for reading, obviously). I've
got another one installed under a valance in my kitchen over a bank of
windows. Again, very dramatic effect of indirect light. 

Dean
Dean May             cell 812.239.3359
PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272
Terre Haute IN  47802


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Ric Brekne
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2005 5:36 AM
To: pianotech
Subject: Soundboard Removal

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

--------------------

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


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