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<DIV> Ron</DIV>
<DIV> I find that with tight bond glue it takes about 3 days for the
glue joint to get quite hard & then the boom really comes alive.
With the Bolduc glue it's the next day.</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>> and is there any advantage to trying to make that
rim<BR>> immoveable, and is there a consequence to it moving with respect
to the<BR>> soundboard?<BR><BR>Another recent observation along these
lines, for anyone <BR>interested. I've read for years how a soundboard doesn't
boom <BR>much when it's first glued in, and develops a boom after a few
<BR><STRONG>days. With the RC&S board I put in the B I'm currently trying
<BR>to get done, I was playing with the boom, or ring tone of the <BR>board to
see what it did. With the F clamps just on, and <BR>Titebond still dripping on
the floor, I thumped the mid tenor <BR>bridge with my fist. Got a good solid
boom with a bit over <BR>three second ring time!</STRONG> Thump tone changed
frequency up and <BR>down scale just as I'd expect, but the ring duration
really <BR>stood out as extraordinary. Next day, I removed the clamps and
<BR>thumped it again. Still a good boom, but the ring time was <BR>half of
what it was before I took off the clamps. Now, <BR>"conventional wisdom" would
say it had "something" to do with <BR>the fit at the rim, and the clamps
supplying added coupling <BR>between the panel and rim, but that ain't it. As
I was leaning <BR>on the curved side pounding away, it struck me that the rim
<BR>was vibrating like a palm sander against my stomach, which <BR>wasn't
nearly as dramatic with the clamps on. Even with that <BR>"iron fortress" rock
maple rim, it was absorbing more <BR>soundboard energy because I had removed
the MASS of the clamps <BR>from the rim. When I got the plate bolts installed,
the plate <BR>in, and tightened down the cap nuts, the board ring time came
<BR>right back courtesy of the plate mass. Sooooo, it seems to me <BR>that
this could be something else to add to our arsenal of <BR>possible field
modifications in our never ending quest to make <BR>pianos seem better than
they were either designed or built to <BR>be. Addition of mass loads to inner
rims to improve sustain in <BR>otherwise functional soundboards should be
worth a try in some <BR>situations. It would be easy enough to clamp on test
loads to <BR>diagnose problems and potential improvements, and quick and
<BR>cheap enough to implement if it helped and you had a need.<BR><BR>To
whomever,<BR>Ron N</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
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