<!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 6.00.2900.3020" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thought some of you folks might get a kick out of a picture of my latest project - building a complete (ribbed) soundboard for a very old (1850s or 60s?) Bluthner grand. Richard Brekne, over in Norway, is rebuilding the piano and asked me to build the soundboard for him. I believe he inidicated that the piano is from the first year of Bluthner's production.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I believe the piano is owned by a University, and there was quite a bit of interest in maintaining the original design of the belly. The piano was reportedly lacking in the upper treble and there was a wish to do something to try and make the treble a bit more prominent for more even tone, yet keep the appearence original. Our solution was to build a 3-ply laminated panel with a tapered inner ply. During glue-up we pressed the panel into a caul (of sorts) - especially in the high treble - to build some crown into the panel itself. As you can see in the picture, there is no effective kind of support for the panel in the upper treble.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As far as the structural aspects of building the soundboard go, we seem to have reached all our goals successfully. I'm about to ship the soundboard across the big pond and time will tell how musically successful our efforts have been after Richard finishes the project.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Our soundboard is pictured below. I've got tons more pictures and info if any of you are interested - email me.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="cid:004301c7207c$3babd920$0301a8c0@DESKTOP" align=baseline border=0></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Original sounboard below:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="cid:004401c7207c$3babd920$0301a8c0@DESKTOP" align=baseline border=0></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Terry Farrell<BR>Farrell Piano</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A href="http://www.farrellpiano.com">www.farrellpiano.com</A><BR><A href="mailto:terry@farrellpiano.com">terry@farrellpiano.com</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>