<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2802" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial = size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><EM>David M. Porritt wrote:</EM></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><EM>While you have an unstrung board is it possible to put weights = on the bridge approximating the downbearing load you expect to have then = reexamine the crown and bearing angles?  Would this give an elementary idea of = the board's ability to sustain that load?</EM><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Yes indeed. I consider that to be an integral = step to setting up a new soundboard. I use go-bars to apply down-force to the = bridges (see the picture below). I calibrate the go-bars by measuring the go-bar = pressure with a scale (see second picture - my wife keeps bugging me: = "Terry, where is the bathroom scale?"). I suspect that after one has built and = set up many, many soundboards, this step may not be necessary. But I find = a tremendous educational dimension to the process.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></FONT></FONT><FONT = face=Arial size=2><IMG alt="" hspace=0 = src="cid:002601c635b6$8a804560$0201a8c0@DESKTOP" align=baseline border=0></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><IMG alt="" hspace=0 = src="cid:002701c635b6$8a828f50$0201a8c0@DESKTOP" align=baseline border=0></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>