<HTML>In a message dated 9/9/2003 3= [link redacted at request of site owner - Jul 25, 2015] <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT= : 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Subj: Crowned Ribs on M&H? Date: 9/9/2003 3:09:53 PM Pacific Daylight Time [link redacted at request of site owner - Jul 25, 2015] t</A> Reply-to: <A HREF="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A>= To: <A HREF="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> Sent from the Internet          Hi</BLOCKQUOTE> John           I was at Mason & = Hamlin 3 years ago and recieved a tour from Kirk Burgett. I won't swear to i= t but I believe he spoke about the ribs having several different radii. I sa= w the same racks but didn't stop to look specifically at the ribs or the cro= wn alleged. I haven't torn down any Mason yet with crowned ribs either but t= hen again it seems I'm the only one who has seen a half dozen reverse crown = executions in various makes. Odd thing are out so there maybe Del stumbled o= n the only two crowned rib experiments these companys ever produced.     Dale <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT= : 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"> Delwin D Fandrich wrote: >P.S. You mention in defense of the compression-crowned soundboard that y= ou >"maintain literally dozens of elder Steinways and Mason &Hamlins, mo= st >with original boards, some 100 or more years old..." and go on to extol<= BR> >their acoustic virtues. You are aware, I trust, that M&H has long us= ed >crowned ribs. That's not the same thing.  -- ddf Del, Not to give you a hard time but the last time I was at the M&H plant a <= BR> few years ago the ribs I saw were certainly flat not crowned. They have a large rack with rows of rib stock machined and ready to be glued to there boards. There bottom surfaces were nicely profiled in the usual manner. If there was any crown to these it wasn't deliberate. Also I have not noticed any more evidence of crowned ribs on older M&Hs than I = do on older S&Ss. When you remove a old M&H board from the case it l= ook pretty much like an old Steinway Board. Flat as a pancake. I am not sure <BR= > if machined crowned ribs of the usual dimensions would show much sign of <BR= > there heritage after many years. At least I have never come across ribs that were obviously crowned on these two makes. -- John Hartman RPT John Hartman Pianos [link redacted at request of site owner - Jul 25, 2015] Rebuilding Steinway and Mason &Hamlin Grand Pianos Since 1979 </BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>