<HTML>In a message dated 1/10/03 1:43:48 AM !!!First Boot!!!, tune4u@earthlink.net writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Well, it's sorta your piano, it belongs to the US Army so you are, indirectly, paying me to fix it ... Older B. Hamilton studio. 3 long diagonal cracks that traverse the soundboard from edge to edge. 2 of the cracks are on either side of the bass bridge apron so it's as though only maybe 7 percent of the soundboard is directly connected to the bridge, except through the ribs.   Bass SOUNDS okay but I'm concerned about the structural integrity of bridge/soundboard/ribs in that area.   They will pay to repair the bridge (eyelash cracks) but I doubt they'd want to do the whole soundboard-shim thing.   Anyone with more experience, appreciate your comments.   Thanks,   Alan Barnard </BLOCKQUOTE> The cracks themselves are not the problem. The problem is where the soundboard is loose from the ribs and/or the bridge. Since I won't pay for the soundboard to be replaced on a Hamilton, I suggest you drive screws through the ribs and bridge to attach then to the soundboard. If that doesn't work, I want to have my piano used for target practice on the range. Wim </HTML>