<!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 bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Just for the yahoo of it I planed the side of a rib that I had saved from an old 1890s Knabe upright that I tore apart. The rib had quite a curve to it (right at 7.5 meters radius) as you can see in the picture below by the straight-edge placed next to it (please disregard the messy table, the belly and the tennies). Most of the curve is in the center (the rib, not the belly), and the ends tend to flatten out.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="cid:00c401c64187$b02a2420$0201a8c0@DESKTOP" align=baseline border=0></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I wanted to see if I could tell whether it had just warped that way or whether it had been cut that way. After planing to expose some raw wood I was surprised to see that it was a laminated rib! Two laminations. The bottom lamination (away from the panel) is of constant thickness. The top lamination in the picture below (adjacent to panel) is about six millimeters thick in the middle (the picture below</FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2> is of the middle of the rib).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="cid:00c501c64187$b02a2420$0201a8c0@DESKTOP" align=baseline border=0></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The top lamination in the picture below (adjacent to panel) is about six millimeters thick in the center (see above) and tapers to nothing at the ends (see below). The lower lamination (away from the panel) is about 13 millimeters thick throughout its length except for the standard-type taper at the ends. The rib is 31mm wide. The picture below is near the rib end at the taper.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="cid:00c601c64187$b02a2420$0201a8c0@DESKTOP" align=baseline border=0></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Anyway, very interesting rib construction. I had never seen anything quite like this. I have the original soundboard from an 1890s Knabe grand that I guess I'll just have to yank a rib off of and take a closer look at it. Anyone ever seen anything like this before?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>