<HTML>Del writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT= : 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">It is true that a screw left in a soundboard could cau= se a buzz sometime down the road. But then so will a loose rib. Perhaps we s= hould leave the ribs off as well. Seriously, enough screws have been left in= enough soundboards over the past 150 plus years that if this were going to = develop into a severe problem it probably would have done so by now.<= FONT COLOR="#000000" style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2 FAMILY= ="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"> </BLOCKQUOTE> Del, Putting the screws between ribs is easy enough, and I understand your point = about compression-crowned ribs being less sensitive to piercing than rib-cro= wned ribs. However, I have also always heard that standard woodworking pract= ice is to replace screws used as clamps, with dowels, and I wondered if in t= his case that was more, or less, risky than leaving the screws in. I have he= ard noise from the screw/button combination. I also considered a spruce plug= instead of a dowel, or a dowel up into the bridge and a plug in the soundbo= ard. The problem is, I have a bridge staring me in the face and I don't want to b= uild a pneumatic press tomorrow. Thanks, Bob D</HTML>