<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On Oct 24, 2008, at 11:22 AM, John Delacour wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>At 22:46 +0200 23/10/08, andré oorebeek wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite">What I have to say about it, is that, in - my - experience, installing a new board always sounded much better than putting new ribs on an old board.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">You know me, I know you, we are old hands in this business, we know what we are talking about.<br></blockquote><br>Maybe, but that is quite different from saying that the wood of which the old board is made has deteriorated through age. Provided it has not been damaged by compression, the wood of the original board could be used to make a new (thinner) board for, say, a harpsichord or antique pianoforte and the result would be as good as or better than new wood. The proposition that age alone causes wood to deteriorate is nonsense. It is the soundboard as a mechanical structure that can deteriorate if it is made in certain ways, but there are many soundboards in very old pianos that are as good as they were 120 or 140 years ago because they were properly designed.<br><br>The very title of this topic "the finite life of wood grain" is meaningless.<br><br>JD<br></div></blockquote></div><div><br></div><div>And yet I do not agree, I am sorry.</div><div>Old wood has maybe not deteriorated, but it has certainly changed, whatever you call it, it does not matter.</div><div>It has changed. Nobody can deny that.</div><div>It has sort of petrified. The juices are long gone, the cellular structure has become different, it has become more brittle, it has aged and corroded.</div><div>That does not mean that it is a bad piece of wood! No, it means it's <i>different</i>.</div><div>That means that old wood will give a <i>different</i> sound.</div><div><br></div><div>Old violins sound completely different compared to new ones.</div><div>I remember hearing a wonderful experiment :</div><div>It was an experiment with a baroque string orchestra.</div><div>All string instruments were brand new!</div><div>It sounded fabulous!</div><div>I have heard many old boards with new ribs from mainly Bechstein grands, Bösendorfer and Steinway grands.</div><div>I have also heard many newly made boards in old instruments.</div><div><br></div><div>Today I worked on a brand new Bösendorfer 2.14. I optimized the regulation, tuned it, did not even need extra voicing.</div><div>It has become a jewel.</div><div>Based on my experience I say again : If I had the choice, give me a new instrument.</div><div><br></div><div>OK Richard Brekne grinnnnnn , how about it? (; >))</div><div><br></div><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; ">friendly greetings<br>from<br>André Oorebeek<br><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; ">Antoni van Leeuwenhoekweg 15</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px; ">1401 VW, Bussum</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px; ">the Netherlands</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px; "><br></span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px; ">tel : +31 35 6975840</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px; ">gsm : +31 652 388008</span></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; "><br>"where Music is, no harm can be"</span></div><div><br></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></body></html>