<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Ron,     thank you for your accommodation of my request. I received the pictures and it was exactly what i was looking for. I may not make them immediately and favor Ron N. approach until I get more time and a feeling for just how much I may be leaning into this part of the business. I love shop work but the bread and butter has always been tunings.     I thought that tongue and groove might be a good idea long before I heard about it here. Lately I've been day dreaming about finger joints. Any feelings on how that might work in a soundboard situation? It seems that a finger joint would offer more surface area than a tongue and groove. Call me a ponderer.     I would love to here from you any tips, ideas, or pitfalls to be aware of as I begin to prepare for this job. If you have an idea of a supplier for Sitka or opinions about other woods I would love to hear that too! though I was not fortunate enough to hear your piano this past convention I hope to this time around in Chicago. I certainly respect your opinion and value your input to "the list".     The three gluers thing was cute! How is your efforts going in getting your piano used at the concert hall? Is this a battle with Steinway or the hall? The longer I'm in this business the less respect I seem to have for Steinway. They do some things well but the most successful thing they do is their marketing. well, this is nothing new to serious technicians is it?     Thanks again for taking the time. Good luck in getting your piano it's time in the spotlight! Regards, Greg Ron Overs wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE><style type="text/css"></style> Greg Newell wrote:  <blockquote type="cite" cite>> Greetings enlighteners,</blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite>>     I have posted recently about installing my first board . . .</blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite>>     . . . I've read recently about current suppliers making tongue and groove > panels and I think I could possibly do a somewhat respectable job making > a flat panel this way.</blockquote>  This is an excellent method, not for its strength, but because it allows for the boards to be glued together without sliding out of alignment when the clamping pressure is applied. The boards can therefore be made thinner .  <blockquote type="cite" cite> . . . I will also need a way to clamp the</blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite>> board to the inner rim. i've asked Ron Overs to e-mail me  a picture of</blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite>> his set up as he posted once before that he had clamps made for him.</blockquote>  Sorry for the delay in getting back to you Greg. I've had a couple of pressing matters here in Sydney which required my attention. A jpeg side elevation drawing of the clamps is still available on our website at; <A HREF="http://overspianos.com.au/clamp.jpeg">http://overspianos.com.au/clamp.jpeg</A> We built every one of them (35 - sufficient to do a 9'6" piano board) in our own workshop (including turning up the ball ends and swivel-feet). It took Wal and I a full week to make the 35 clamps. It could be done quicker if you are prepared to build them sloppily. But since I am going to have to walk past them in the workshop for the next twenty years, I wanted them to be tidy. You can buy the threaded rod in. A nut is welded to the top of the threaded rod to form the 'bolt-head'. I made the spine of the clamp out of 25mm x 50mm RHS (it doesn't need to be strong, since these clamps will never be used to apply extreme pressure), with the top and bottom of the C made from 25mm x 10mm solid section. The jpeg on our web site is not at 1:1 scale, but the outer rim shown in the jpeg is 26 mm thick and the clamp spine is 50mm across. It should be possible to set your printer to a percentage oversize to allow for print out at 100%. Stick the resulting pages together to give you a working drawing. The finished clamps can be seen on our piano no. 003 just after clamping the board in for the last time, at; <A HREF="http://overspianos.com.au/3glrs.html">http://overspianos.com.au/3glrs.html</A> Do you like the title? In 'musical circles' we always hear about the three tenors, so in 'sound board circles' we have? I designed the clamps so that they can be fitted to any rim from a G2 Yamaha to the largest concert grand rim. The adjustment bolts on the spine of the clamps can be adjusted to fit them to each outer rim as required. The clamps can be fitted to the rim before the sound board is placed into the case. The clamping feet are wound right up to allow for the sound board to be positioned easily. When fastening the board, they can be wound down to the board very quickly with two or three operators on electric screw drivers.  <blockquote type="cite" cite>> I'm not easily frightened away from things like this so don't bother</blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite>> with the buy one first and then make your own after you gain some > experience. I have nothing to loose except my time and materials. Unless > there is some equipment I just don't have or can't easily borrow, rent > or otherwise obtain the use of, this sounds like fun. I look forward to > your posts.</blockquote>    Good on you Greg. You'll find out a lot more about pianos by actually doing it, as opposed to the less successful approach - gesticulating for hours on a computer keyboard. All the best. Ron O--       OVERS PIANOS        Grand Piano Manufacturers _____________________________ Web:    <A HREF="http://www.overspianos.com.au">http://www.overspianos.com.au</A> Email:  <A HREF="mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au">mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au</A> _____________________________</blockquote> -- Greg Newell <A HREF="mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net">mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net</A>  </html>