<HTML> <BODY TEXT="#000000" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" LINK="#0000EE" VLINK="#551A8B" ALINK="#FF0000"> <TT>Speaking of alternative soundboards, a colleague encountered a Boardman & Gray square ca. 1855.</TT><TT></TT> <TT>These are the guys who made the "dulce compana" modulation, which puts heavy weights on the bridge for an effect. While this particular instrument lacked the stop, it had something even stranger:</TT><TT></TT> <TT>A corrugated soundboard.</TT><TT></TT> <TT>Apparently they started with a nice fine-grained quarter-sawn 1"(!) thick soundboard and planed the undulations into it. The grain runs perpendicular to the bridges which are _attached_ only to the apexes, and there are no ribs.</TT><TT></TT> <TT>And who's the lucky fellow who gets to work on it?</TT><TT></TT> <TT>Clark</TT> </BODY> </HTML>