Our restoration shop just received a piano that's been subjected to a pretty bizarre accident (or perhaps vandalism - we don't know) at a school. We believe a fire burned in a rubbish bin directly underneath this Model A (number 400028). Below you can see the results; the soundboard got so hot that the varnish bubbled on the top side, yet the underside suffered no actual charring or burning (note in the second photo how the soot has been wiped away by my thumb in one spot). The last two photos reveal that enough soot was pouring up through the two holes in the underside (at the sustain pedal and the plate bolt) so as to leave a residue. It seems to me this would be a tricky thing to pull off even if one were deliberately trying to do it; specifically I mean getting the board heated just enough to bubble the varnish, but not so hot it that things caught fire and burned. A pretty flukey event! I suppose there must have been just enough stuff in the bin to burn for just long enough (and hot enough) to cause only this amount of damage. The soundboard seems fine, still has plenty of power etc. We'll be replacing it, since the instrument is covered by insurance and it seems the prudent thing to do. But I wonder if anyone with more knowledge than I about internal wood structure will have an opinion on whether any lasting damage to the board will in fact have occurred, and if so how it might affect the tone or longevity? Sincerely, Allen Wright London, UK -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: IMG_5025.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 49575 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100417/88bc2197/attachment-0004.jpg> -------------- next part -------------- IMG_5025.JPG . -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: IMG_5028.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 45879 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100417/88bc2197/attachment-0005.jpg> -------------- next part -------------- IMG_5028.JPG -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: IMG_5035.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 38871 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100417/88bc2197/attachment-0006.jpg> -------------- next part -------------- IMG_5035.JPG -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: IMG_5036.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 35352 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20100417/88bc2197/attachment-0007.jpg> -------------- next part -------------- IMG_5036.JPG
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