Old wood VS. new wood was -- Chickering Grand Features

[Erwinspiano at aol.com]

Ok Guys. 
    Whistle blowing.  Time out ..alright  already.  Old wood, dead wood 
....Wood is wood for the most part. (I have a  few stray thoughts about this & have 
my flame suit  on)
  It is a fact that the longer wood air dries or ages  that the harder it 
gets.  I once bought a pile of Sitka that aged 20  years in a barn in the central 
Ca valley.  The cabinet shop that re-sawed  it said it was so hard it dulled 
the blade & there were sparks flying off it  during the resawing. He ha d 
never seen anything quite like  that.
  Yes, I made a few boards out of it ,& they sounded  about like many others 
I have made. Outstanding of course. grin.  But the magic wood component, even 
if  true isn't all there is to  making soundboards  successfully  & any one 
following the  last ten years of threads on the subject has a clue about  this.
   But the question is, does this antique wood have  some kind of sonorous 
properties that conduct vibration more efficiently or more  wonderfully than 
freshly milled & kilned wood. I for one don't' know with  certainty but indeed 
hold my own opinions.
  If those re-crowning or making Piano sound boards with  wood that has come 
from a hundred year old flat piano soundboard board ...I see  no harm in this 
unless they are compression crowning. 
    However If the new old wood  boards being made employ modern  rib 
crowning or rib crowned &  supported  techniques with only mild compression, then I 
would think this  will produce a fine result. Hey why not? 
    But If the wood is being dried down yet  again and compression crowned as 
it was originally then Perhaps this  is wishful thinking that there is 
elasticity enough left to complete  the C.C task.  And don't forget the cellular 
damage already done.  IMO  New wood is best suited for compression crowning. 
      It's a fact...Old wood is harder.... and ,...it is less resilient than 
new wood, but  couldn't that cause it to also have a different capacity for 
tonal resonance  especially when coupled with quality made, non compression type 
crowning  methods.?  I suspect it does but in piano making the wood going 
into the  sound board is only one component.  I've heard wonderful sounding 
pianos  with hideous looking wood. I've seen beautiful looking wood & a horrible  
sound.  So....
     Is this making any  sense?
  Now then... Violins are not compression  crowned so perhaps the old wood 
group are seeking the hardness & stability  of old wood. I, like Ron/others 
would;d very much like to hear from some folks  who have made instruments long 
enough to have experience enough to state a bold  yet subjective   opinion about 
the subjective results from their newly  made old wood instruments.  Any body 
have a source of chat rooms or  dialogues among builders for this. Any body 
know any body doing  this?
  On a sightly different note.  We have posted  routinely about the 
improvement in the sound of an old flat or semi flat board  when coated with epoxy 
coming to life.  I've done it ,. SO what's going on?  Epoxy adds stiffness. SO do 
other things. SO if stiffness  is good  then older harder wood seem to possess 
some properties  that  would  seem to have an edge over newer wood. i.e.. 
Stability &  hardness. 
    How that translates to resonance & tone  in different instruments will 
likely continue to create threads as long as those  entitled "using CA glue to 
remedy loose Tuning pins."
  
 
  Kindest regards
  Dale Erwin
  
 
 
 
 
 
> Antique wood. Yeah, what a hoot. I guess that's why he didn't  replace 
> the soundboard, yet charged her enough for soundboard  replacement. You 
> should'a seen the underneath of that soundboard -  looked like ground 
> zero in southern Manhattan. Cracks, bulges, goo  oozing out of cracks, 
> holes, etc., etc. Well,  whatever....
>  
> Terry Farrell

Soundboards are  immortal, everyone knows that, and who's crazy 
enough to look underneath  anyway?


=====================================
>   And here's something I didn't know -
> 
>   * Antique wood carries sound much better, and lasts longer  because
>     of the 50-80 year aging process, unavailable  today.  The quality of
>     metalwork for steel and  copper-wound strings, in contrast, is much
>     better  today than it used to be 100 years ago.  That's why restored
>   antique pianos sound so much better than new pianos and last  far
>     longer.*
> 
>     Bob  D.
=======================================

The antique wood thing is  precisely what professional piano 
people re-ribbing old dead soundboards  (and even compression 
crowning them again!) have told us right here on this  list. As 
Jack said, if you can't get the truth about pianos from piano  
techs, where can you? Still an open question. Too many 
Lockheed  engineers in the profession I suspect.

Ron N


 
 
Dale Erwin--Piano Restorations
4721 Parker  rd
Modesto, Ca. 95357
Shop 209-577-8397
Web site _http://www.Erwinspiano.com_ (http://www.erwinspiano.com/)  
Restoration & Sales of
Steinway &  Sons & other fine pianos.
" Soundboards by  Design"




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