Hi Greg, Sort of, and sort of not. I've been told that Steinway uses a process where they heat the wood and use hot glue. Heating the wood will extend the setup time of the glue long enough to allow them to get the mass of wood and glue into the rim press and all clamped down while the glue is still workable. At least that's the way I was told. It may be changing now, with the advent of more modern glues, I don't know. But I don't believe that they would pre-stress the layers of wood in such a way as to give them their approximate shape after glueup. Probably impractical and unnecessary in a setup with those huge rim presses. I hope I didn't add too much confusion to the subject. It was more or less some random thoughts that came to mind I thought I'd throw out for whatever they may have been worth. Brian Trout Quarryville, PA btrout@desupernet.net
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