<HTML style="FONT-SIZE: x-small; FONT-FAMILY: MS Sans Serif"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1251"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2963" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <P> <DIV>JD said: "<FONT size=+0>Yes, why on earth not? What is all this talk of "brash failure"? </FONT> <DIV><FONT size=+0>Brash wood is diseased, rotten wood -- brashness is not something </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0>that happens to wood in the course of time but only as a result of </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0>exposure to malign elements of one kind or another, usually before </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0>conversion. In a benign environment wood will not deteriorate and in </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0>35 years of restoration I have dealt with only a tiny number of </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0>pianos where wood has become brittle, usually, it seems, through the </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0>prolonged effect of chemicals in its location, and most likely </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0>smoking coal fires. As regards spruce, I have never come across such </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0>as thing, and I have never seen a maple shank that has become </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0>brittle. Those shanks that do become brittle are never maple in my </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0>experience."</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=+0>JD,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=3>Perhaps you need more diverse experience.<G> Some of your suppositions are not valid, IMO.</FONT></DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Joseph Garrett, R.P.T.</DIV> <DIV>Captain, Tool Police</DIV> <DIV>Squares R I</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <P></P></BODY></HTML>