<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:o = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1 = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3314" name=GENERATOR><o:SmartTagType name="PostalCode" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="State" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="City" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="place" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType> <STYLE>  </STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY lang=EN-US vLink=purple link=blue bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Hi Dean,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Are you replacing the soundboard? Or are you considering this as a retro-fit? A traditional rib position will likely give you a some trouble. A fanned rib array where the tail-most rib is approximately parallel to the belly rail lends itself much better to floating the bass.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>With a traditional design (compression board) I would also be very concerned about panel support. In a RC&S board, a well-placed and dimensioned rib is down there at the tail to do it's job. On a compression board you don't have that.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>I'm not saying to not do it, but rather that there are a lot of things to consider. When RC&S belly designers design a piano belly, they consider the entire system - string scaling, rim shape, ribs, everything. I suspect it is often difficult to pick one feature out of a modern RC&S design and apply it to a traditional compression board successfully.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Food for thought......</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Not trying to burst anyone's bubble!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>If you try it, let us know more details and how things work out. Maybe it has more chance of success than I might think.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=deanmay@pianorebuilders.com href="mailto:deanmay@pianorebuilders.com">Dean May</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">'Pianotech List'</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:07 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> floating the soundboard</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV class=Section1> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I have a small grand in the shop now I’d like to experiment with floating the soundboard at the bass end. I don’t see much in the archives. Were there any Journal articles on it? I’m particularly needing info on adding appropriate stiffeners at the cut edge.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Many thanks<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoAutoSig><B><FONT face="Bradley Hand ITC" color=navy size=6><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 22pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'">Dean</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT color=navy><SPAN style="COLOR: navy"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoAutoSig style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><U1:PERSONNAME u2:st="on"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: navy">Dean May</U1:PERSONNAME>             cell 812.239.3359 <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoAutoSig style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: navy">PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272 <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoPlainText><U1:PLACE u2:st="on"><U1:CITY u2:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><FONT face="Courier New" color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy"><U3:PLACE u4:st="on"><U3:CITY u4:st="on">Terre Haute</SPAN></FONT></st1:City><FONT color=navy><SPAN style="COLOR: navy"></U3:PLACE></U1:CITY></U3:CITY> <U1:STATE u2:st="on"><st1:State u5:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">IN</st1:State></U1:STATE></st1:State>  <U1:POSTALCODE u2:st="on"><st1:PostalCode u6:st="on"><st1:PostalCode w:st="on">47802</st1:PostalCode></U1:POSTALCODE></st1:PostalCode></SPAN></FONT></st1:place></U1:PLACE><o:p></o:p></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>