Hi Dale. We have several folks over her that do this rather routinely. Odd Aanstad in Sweden actually did a class once for the Nordic some years back where he removed and de-ribbed a soundboard in a 60-70 year old grand in one day. If you have routines for doing this kind of thing... like everything else... you get cost/time effective I guess. For my part... heck Dale... you know me. I like to think well out of anyones box just to see where things take me. I'm more interested in mulling over potential pros and cons of pre-compressing new panels for the moment. The basic idea of a panel that is less reactive to RH changes (if that is indeed possible from this route) appeals to me. Regardless of what kind of approach to ribbing me think. As for finding a patron... grin.. I'm a bit too far this side of the pond really. Tho if you find a good candidate and do a public thing out of it I'll certainly contribute. I'm still working on a general RC&S soundboard install seminar involving Terry over here. Looking for the right piano... enough interest and the right place to hold the thing. I do like to encourage all kinds of such endeavour as perhaps you know by now. Cheers RicB Ric Enjoyed the Discussion so far. On a practical note, pursuing this line of thinking from a shop construction point of view, would render it a hobby as to being so time consuming. To reconstitute a panel & install it in who's piano is a question. Hey, wood is an amazing, strong & yet resilient material. Hypothetically....I've removed many perfectly flat panels with out much damage that would fill your bill. You pay the freight & I'd be glad to send them to you. Honestly we've talked about this a looooong time & I'm still waiting to see one of these re ribbed systems at work ..somewhere...anywhere. I'm sure it would work well especially in a RC& S system where the panel is not re-dried to smithereens before ribbing. I wish I had a patron so I could play on just such a project. Any body Dale
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