<!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 6.00.2900.2769" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; = FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 bgColor=#ffffff leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 = rightMargin=7> <DIV><FONT size=3>Well, he doesn't say whether the measurements are = being made on the bridge side of the soundboard or the rib side. You are correct if = the measurements are made on the bridge side. His method should kinda-sorta = work if measurements are made on the rib side of the soundboard. However, the = string method offers much more flexibility for where to make your measurements. = A hard, 4-foot-long straight edge won't work very well to measure crown in = the killer octave area. One crown measurement in the middle of the board = won't tell you much.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>When accurately measuring crown with the string = method - usually only done when setting up a new belly - I have a series of = little wooden blocks with thicknesses in one-millimeter increments. When measuring = crown by myself, I take a piece of masking tape and tape one end of the = string near the soundboard edge and hold the other end of the string at the opposite = edge parallel to a rib. Then I simply take my little wooden = thickness-measuring blocks and use the go/no-go method of measuring the gap between the = panel and the string. This works infinitely better than trying to accurately read = some sort of ruler. You can also get a real good characterization of the = shape of the panel (how even the crown profile is) along the full length of = each rib with the string method.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><BR> </DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV>  <FONT size=3> By the way this doesn't work because = of soundboard thinning. The board is thicker in the middle, thinner at = the edges.</FONT><FONT size=3>  This method will show positive = crown even when there is none. Follow me?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>   Dale  Erwin</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px = solid"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 = size=2>Here's the method I read about:  You take a straight edge as long as = the back <BR>of the piano (I'm assuming they meant an upright), attach to = EXACTLY 7" blocks <BR>at a right angle to each end, then measure from the = bottom of the straight <BR>edge to the  soundboard at the mid point.  = Subtract the middle measurement <BR>from 7" and that's the amount of crown.<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BODY></HTML>