<br> <br>  <FONT face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif" size=3>Fine, Whatever. Let's not beat the dead horse further it's disrespectful to the horse. <br> <br>   Dale<br> </FONT><br> <div id=AOLMsgPart_0_8dd5ba33-756c-44b8-923a-373a5bbecf7c style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; COLOR: #000; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff"><PRE style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><TT> We've been through this again and again and again on this list, and my opinion ( which will be ridiculed by some here, but I have no interest in further defending ) is that old wood that has been in decent ( reasonably clean, dry ) environments is acoustically superior. ( As in: "Rich" and "Warm" sounding. ) But this superior resonance can not be expressed, when the crown has imploded. I'm doing my first full soundboard recrowning according to a new method ( not yet discussed here ) and may report the results. Euphonious Thumpe --- On Tue, 10/21/08, Richard Brekne <<A href="mailto:ricb@pianostemmer.no">ricb@pianostemmer.no</A>> wrote: > From: Richard Brekne <<A href="mailto:ricb@pianostemmer.no">ricb@pianostemmer.no</A>> > Subject: The finite life of wood grain > To: <A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> > Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 3:49 AM > The whole problem with this <<soundboards die>> > thing is first and > foremost the fact that there are way too many=2 0undead old > soundboards > around. This goes for all types of soundboard > constructions. > > Wood that is subjected to seasonal climate changes that are > sufficiently > large is going to deteriorate no matter what the > application. Wood that > is in stable enough conditions will last a very long time > indeed. We see > many 100 year old instruments, particularly Steinways that > have very > fine functioning soundboards. Full of life and punch, no > so-called > killer octave, lovely response and lots of projection > power. > > The compression damage argument when matched up with the > basic RC&S > philosophy gets shot in its foot. A panel may indeed be > very much > reduced in size cross grain compared to its original size > due to > permanent compression set, but when you dont rely on > compression to > begin with to build a panel.. then this fact is by > definition a plus. > Nothing about the permanent compression set inhibits the > panel from > being re-used thus. Only folks willingness to re-process > an old > soundboard does. I can refer to a discussion on the matter > where Delwin > Fandrich himself says exactly this in an exchange between > André, myself, > and Del about 8 years ago now. > > There is also the subject of how well wood is20seasoned > before taken into > use. There are many 3-400 year old houses around here. > Small houses made > completely of wood. Mite damage is really the major > problem. But those > that escaped that and were otherwise taken reasonably good > care of are > in very fine shape. I have on the other hand 20 year old > siding on my > 300 year old house that has developed wood rot in several > places. I've > re-painted every 3 years, done all the stuff you are > supposed to do but > the stuff just cant match siding that was / is on houses > that is from > the turn of the last century. We see newer wood > constructed houses > (from the 60's onwards) developing serious structural > problems all the > time around here. > > Cheers > RicB > > > > This is a curious question directed toward Dale Erwin > and other > soundboard people. > > Would it be fair to say that the majority of > soundboards die after, > say, 80 to 100 years? If that's true, then > what's the major reason? > Is it climate, or the simple fact that the board has > been under > pressure, or both of the the above? > > Also, this "death" is at the cellular / > granular level, right? So > then "re-crowning" would be about as useful > as putting new chrome on > a car with a destroyed chassis, eh? > > (Sorry if this is a dead horse already thoroughly > beaten.) > > Thanks, and thank you again, Dale, for a great talk in > Chicago. > David > > David B. Stang > Columbus Ohio __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around <A href="http://mail.yahoo.com/" target=_blank>http://mail.yahoo.com</A> </TT></PRE></div> <div id='MAILCIADA021-5c4c48fe9a9529d' class='aol_ad_footer'> </div>