Oh it holds up,,, as far as the reasoning goes. But stiffness, as you know, and for that matter spring rate is not all one is concerned with. You have the mass side of the equation to figure in.... at the very least. You can easily achieve similar stiffness levels I would assume... with two different assemblies ( a CC and an RC&S) at least for a given RH, but achieving that and at the same time the same stiffness to mass relationships is another matter. So varying panel thickness to achieve similar stiffness would probably insure dissimilar mass. Cheers RicB Terry writes: Maybe one thing being overlooked here is that, while panel stiffness is increased by applying downbearing, the panel has a significant amount of stiffness even with no compression at all. Even before it's ribbed, the panel has stiffness. I don't know how the numbers would actually work out in a working soundboard, but perhaps its not inconceivable that a CC board could end up with similar stiffness as a RC&S board - by varying panel thickness or whatever - maybe it's just that stiffness is achieved in part by different means (and that may only be a small percentage of total stiffness). If what I am suggesting holds any water at all, it may be then that the two systems might not necessarily produce greatly divergent tonal qualities. Terry Farrell
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