Hi, Ron, Quoting Ron Nossaman <rnossaman@cox.net>: > > > > While I'm not altogether convinced they necessarily need be made of > > > spruce, > > > it's obvious that laminated panels are typically pre-judged as being > > > inferior, most often by those who have no practical experience in > > > soundboard design and fabrication. > > > >In this case, going back to Terry's first post, we find this URL: > > > >http://www.calgarysun.com/cgi-bin/niveau2.cgi?s=generic&p=9666.html&a=1 > > > >Which, with a little research, leads one to: > > > >http://www.irenebesse.com/ > > > >At which site we quickly discover that there is reason for a fair amount > of > >pre-judgement to be going on. > > Hi Horace, > We do? I'm not seeing it. What am I missing? Their primary brands. > >One hopes that, with some more exposure to well-done laminated boards, > the > >opposition would be shown for what it is...marketing blather. > > Yes, one continues to hope. > > > >There was a > >time, of course, when this might not have been true; however, the last > bit > >of dust-up in Europe a few decades back meant things like most of the > >remaining best quality spruce going into glider making instead of > pianos. > > The problems I've seen with laminated boards aren't the result of not > having top grade spruce, in my opinion, but rather trying to build a > soundboard assembly without awareness or accommodation of the differences > between solid spruce and laminated whatever panels. I see no reason that > a > well functioning soundboard couldn't be made using the old Story & Clark > Incomparable Storytone Mahogany Plywood crating stock, with a little > awareness and a few necessary design changes. Yes - absolutely. > >And, sadly, there has not been sufficient numbers of quality instruments > >with laminated boards for the "average" person (or, technician, for that > >matter) to get anything more real than the marketing hype. > > True, and it still remains that too often, the piano will be judged not > by > how it actually sounds and performs, but by what the average person (and > most certainly the tech) "knows" to be an inferior construction. Opinions > tend to change with revelations of anything different than we think we > know, regardless of what we hear for ourselves. Getting past that seems > to be the biggest problem. Exactly. Best. Horace
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