<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi Joe,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Some people find the aging of sounboard = wood and when it  turnes  to stone (what you call petrify) as a sign of = quality.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I was thinking about the cristal = soundboard wich is also a verry hard material ?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Personally, I like verry much the sound = of several old pianos with original soundboards dating from around 1840 - = 45.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The sustain is verry good and = the sound is rich.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't think it is always necessary to = replace those boards.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Pierre Gevaert</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Belgium</FONT> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B> <A title=joegarrett@earthlink.net = href="mailto:joegarrett@earthlink.net">Joe Garrett</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A = title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, October 23, = 2004 1:46 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re-ribbing an olde = board</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yes, I changed the = subject.<G></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The one thing that gets me to NOT = want to do a re-ribbing of an olde board, is the fact that wood does age. Forget = the compression factor for now. Let's just consider this: In the aging = process of wood, it loses it's cellular cohesion/bonding. At some point, this = aging process creates what is known as Brash Failure. If wood is kept in a consistant environment, it will eventually turn to stone, (ie = petrify). The Brash Failure occurs about half way to the petriying stage. = </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Most of us have run into the action = w/parts that defy repair. These actions are in the first stages of Brash Failure. = The best way to explain how the wood reacts is: a new shank/dowel, when broken = will splinter. One with Brash Failure will break cleanly, as if it were = sawn. I've seen this problem on parts that were less than 50years olde, so = there's really no way of telling when this will occur.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So, back to the boards....I feel that = there is no way of knowing how much more time the wood, of the sound board will = have, so I'm very reluctant to re-rib a board, even though it is an intriguing idea/technique. I think, that if I'm going to go to all the trouble to = take a board out, then I'll improve on what was there originally, if I can.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Best Regards,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Joe Garrett, R.P.T.<BR>Captain, Tool Police<BR>Squares R I</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>