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<DIV>List,</DIV>
<DIV> About a month ago, I started a thread about =
soundboards and whether old wood sounded better than new wood. =
That
discussion went into overtime and I do NOT wish to start it
over. Since that thread was posted, I have torn =
apart a few
landfill quality pianos for experimental
purposes. I disected the soundboards to see =
what makes
them tick, so to speak. Here's an observation for
your information. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I tore apart 2 Lester spinets. The one made in '46 had a =
solid
spruce soundboard and several cracks. The one made =
in '57
appeared to be a nice flawless spruce board with no cracks. I very =
carefully removed it. It turned out to be a plywood =
soundboard
covered with a beautiful grainy veneer on both =
sides. Perhaps
that's why it had no cracks? Perhaps that's also why it had
the tone it did. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Today, my son is gutting an old Kimball spinet with a mahogany =
soundboard. It too turns out to be veneer over plywood. =
Tomorrow
we'll get into a Story and Clark console with the famous =
"Storytone"
soundboard, made of mahogany. I may prove to be wrong but I have a =
suspicion that I'm going to find mahogany veneer over =
plywood. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My point is this: There can be some
hidden factors affecting the tone of a piano that both the public =
and we as
piano technicians may not be aware of...such as a misleading
soundboard. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In the future if I ever get into voicing an older =
vertical piano again
and the hammers won't give me the tone I thought it would...maybe the =
hammers
aren't the problem. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>regards</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ron Shiflet </DIV>
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