---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Steve Sorry for the late reply. I've been preparing pianos for display at the Calif. State Convention. I truly appreciate your frank and honest subjective evaluation of the subject. I have not had the same experience as to loss of tonal vitality over time in strictly crown cut ribs. May I also suggest the variables may not only be in the laminating process but also the amount of crown built in compared to the crown cut ribs. Also the density of the wood selected for crown cut rib will also play a major factor in overall stiffness. One thing that I try to do is to pick wood of similar grain density i.e. not one rib with wide grain or one with real tight. I prefer wider grains in the bottom 2 bass ribs & then get tighter as the ribs progress into the treble. I have some very tight & dense sitka right now which would be hard to imagine a laminated rib offering any more support than this. However laminated ribs are glued up in an arch & therefore have a cross section that is continuous unlike the crown cut rib that is thicker in the middle & tapering toward the ends. At least that's the way I've made them. All this to say it's a bit hard to put a finger on this but subjective evaluation is still relevant in my book. I do also experience the sound board maturing over time usually the first year Thanks Dale Erwin Dale, The impression I am left with is that over time the laminated ribs maintain the sound it had when it left the shop, where the crowned spruce ribs, cut to the same or similar dimensions as those that were laminated, seem to loose a little dynamic range. This is very much based on a small sampling of my work. I still tune some of my first jobs where I cut the curve into the rib, and that is the impression I am left with. Now to be fair, I hope that I do better work than I did then, or maybe the glue joint between rib and board is better, I can't tell you why. Maybe Del has tweaked his designs and now he is doing a better job. Couldn't say. Steve Gaza ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/d9/cf/c1/ab/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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