<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16587" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Ok</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Lets' do it.  I challenge you to do this. Find 2 , 36 inch long sections of 1/4 sawn sound board spruce...approx. 6 inches wide .I.e. as if it were cut right out of a panel.  Dry one of them down to 3.5 % emc & the other to about 6% emc. Glue on a flat rib/bar with typical dimensions of what you might find on a sound board of that cross section. Even scallop out the ends as is usual. Now  while dried down, glue on the rib on a flat table top. Now give it three days in 50% plus humidity conditions & then tell me a few points of moisture content don't' make a difference. One will be far more bowed than the other.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM> The power of wood cells in compression is enormous & it will produce much stiffness on it's own when its' restrained from expanding on one side.  enough so as to bend a flat pine/spruce rib which is pretty dang stiff all on it's own.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  I think that because the American climate may be so different from parts of Europe, & that sound board making techniques have adapted to them as well, that our semantics & experiences may be missing each other like ships in the night.</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Regards</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><EM>  Dale</EM></STRONG></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Let's test the properties of spruce over the range of dampness to <BR>which it will be subjected and then see how significant the change is.<BR><BR>JD</FONT></DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT lang=0 face="Book Antiqua" size=2 FAMILY="SERIF" PTSIZE="10"><B><I></I>Dale Erwin--Piano Restorations<BR>4721 Parker rd<BR>Modesto, Ca. 95357<BR>Shop 209-577-8397<BR></FONT><FONT lang=0 face="Abadi MT Condensed" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT><FONT lang=0 face="Abadi MT Condensed" color=#000000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="12">Web site <A href="http://www.erwinspiano.com/">http://www.Erwinspiano.com</A></FONT><FONT lang=0 face="Abadi MT Condensed" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"> </FONT><FONT lang=0 face="Book Antiqua" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SERIF" PTSIZE="10"><I><BR>Restoration & Sales of<BR>Steinway & Sons & other fine pianos.<BR>" Soundboards by Design"</I><BR></B></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy Awards. <A title="http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565" href="http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565" target="_blank">AOL Music takes you there.</A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>