Removing old soundboard intact

Erwinspiano at aol.com Erwinspiano at aol.com
Thu Feb 15 14:07:39 MST 2007


 
HI Stephane/Collin
  Thank You for the input.!  I will give it a  try.  Your advice is sound. 
This board is too nice to discard.  I'll  probably loose money but as the saying 
goes Curiosity killed the Cat  satisfaction brought him back.....whatever 
that means!
  cheers
  Dale

Hi Dale.
 
I've been told a nice way for removing the soundboard out of a grand  piano.  
The useful trick was to turn the piano upside down, with the  bridge facing 
the ground.  The good is that this way, you can soak the  joints from the 
(former) underside (so, now it is the upside).  Soaking  with wet rags (water + 
vinegar and soap) possibly covered with aluminium  folies, so the humidity stays 
high at the joint.  After less than one  hour, you can already try to put some 
weight on the perimeter (I simply stand  on the board with one foot, so I can 
carefully and precisely add pressure  following what I hear is happening at 
the joint), and some places come loose,  effortless.   The bellyrail is the 
hardest place to get loose, but  there you can try to insert carefully a cisel 
between the board and the  rail.  Also, in some pianos, the bass side is 
sandwiched into the  cornice, and you would first have to take away the piece of wood 
that does the  sandwich.
I don't do this routinely, but when I did, the board came out very  neatly, 
contrarily with my earlier tries, where I got nervous.
 
Maybe there is an even better way, and I will be glad to hear about  it.
 
Best regards.
 
Stéphane Collin.



 
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