carl meyer wrote: > > A good magnifying glass and light will tell you if the soundboard crack > is new or old. Old cracks have dirt in them that you can see. Its the > same principle of drying out a board before shimming. With the glass > you can dry the board until the crack grows longer. Now the board is > dryer that it has ever been. > > Carl Meyer > Santa Clara, Ca. > > Ron Nossaman wrote: > > > > > In 1989 we were six miles from the epicenter of a 8.2 earthquake. We saw > > >a lot of pianos that were still standing. The customers heaved sighs of > > >relief that their pianos were ok. Only problem was that many of them had > > >_bad_ soundboard cracks which the customers couldn't see. > > > Diane > > > > This one's bothered me for years. We don't get many earthquakes here in > > Kansas, but we have other forms of natural disasters, like movers. > > Virtually every single time I've gotten a call on moving damage, whatever > > it was, the customer has asked either "Is the soundboard ok?", or "Did they > > crack the soundboard"? Now what I want to know is how, during moving or > > earthquakes, a soundboard would crack unless it was directly contacted by > > something and pushed through, or the rim or liner were destroyed? Sure, I > > find cracks in soundboards after bad moves, but I see them after good moves > > too. I see them in pianos that haven't been approached for any other reason > > than to water the plants on the lid for the last twenty years, let alone > > being subjected to dropping off a truck or being earthquaked. While I admit > > I haven't inspected a piano that was damaged while being moved during an > > earthquake, I still remain skeptical. I wonder how much in insurance claims > > is paid yearly as a result of merely pointing at a soundboard crack that > > has been there for a long time before the post disaster inspection brought > > it to everyone's attention. > > > > Since this idea that soundboard cracks are the result of one single > > incident seems to be so widely accepted among the public, I'd like to hear > > some thoughts from the technical community. Yea, I know they are the result > > of one single incident, but I'm leaving the manufacturer out of it this > > time. What I want to know is - does anyone have any reason to think that a > > normal-to-rough move, or an earthquake that leaves a piano standing, was > > the cause of soundboard cracks discovered after the fact? If so, what's the > > reasoning? I can see a jolt knocking loose old hide glue joints that could > > have failed spontaneously at any time, but soundboard panel cracks? How is > > that likely? > > > > > > Ron N
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