Soundboard installation, next topic : the glue

[Richard Brekne]

Hi you two.. and others

What Hartwig has to say is about Hamburg instruments.  He does not speak 
for the NY instruments.  I have an email exchange from John Patton of NY 
Steinway asking the same questions about the NY variant but I can not 
locate them right yet.  I seem to remember tho that he said they used 
curved ribs as well... tho I am not 100 % certain.  I posted twice about 
it on the list so ya'll can hunt this down in the archives.

I think the main points about these boards (on this list) comes down to 
their viability and the ease of which they are constructed to the intent 
of the builder / rebuilder.  IMHO the whole shamilsh about CC, or 
significantly compressed boards self destructing is simply grossly 
overstated.  Tho I have never experienced living in a place like 
southern Iowa where humidity in the summer can feel like you are living 
in a virtual sweat bath for three months.  As for ease of building... 
well to each their own. 

I think also it goes without saying that all three types mentioned can 
be very successfully  employed to build very fine sounding instruments. 
You all can argue all you want about what does and doesnt sound good.  I 
find that the world of pianists is so unbelievably varied on the subject 
matter that all such arguement is basically meaningless.

Cheers RicB


         >CC=compression crowned, consisting of flat ribs with panel
         >compression forming and supporting crown under both string
         >downbearing and the ribs' attempt to naturally straighten back
        out.
         >Steinway US, Steingraeber, and Sauter build boards this way.


    And yet Hartwig of Steinway Hamburg is reported to say "and yes the
    ribs are slightly curved prior to gluing them onto the board."
    Depending on what he means by "slightly", surely that could mean a
    Steinway board is more or less "rib-crowned" by your terminology?