Down-Bearing NICKED A NERVE!

[Ron Nossaman]

>in reply to Ron N. who said:
><<"Seriously I come  up against this notion everday that hey,  the
>board is perfect because it isn't cracked . . . (flatness accepted) .">>

Actually, I think it was Dale that said that, but I do agree.



>So the question (s) are to Ron & Ron.........
>1.) Describe what aural results you want out of a soundboard without 
>reference to geometrical shape.
>2.) When you use the term "flat board" in what context is it used, loaded or 
>unloaded?
>3.) Would a "flat" board which provided all the aural requirements, in No. 1 
>above, be rejected for use?
>
>Jim Bryant (FL)
 
I wish it was that simple. If it was, we could nail this down and not have
to do it again every four months or so. I did say that I have heard -
that's heard - lots of rebuilds that sound terrific in the humid summer
months and not nearly so good in the dry winters. What criteria would you
use to determine if what you heard in a board as any given time was what
you would hear under less ideal conditions? I use crown AND bearing as
indicators because that's all I have available to estimate how close to non
functional the board is when I evaluate it. If we could slap our pocket
impedance meter down on the soundboard and get a %optimal reading on the
digital readout, we could determine exactly what we had to work with, show
the numbers to the customer or other techs, and have an inarguable
authoritative source. My meter doesn't seem to be working at the moment, so
I can't produce numbers (wish I could). I have to rely not only on what I
hear, but on judgements involving the age of the piano, current climate
conditions, general climate conditions where the piano is housed, and
whatever physical measurements I can get directly from the assembly. At the
moment, that's limited to bearing and crown. Regardless of how a piano
sounds when it's evaluated for rebuild, if the board has measurably reverse
crown, I consider it absolutely untrustworthy and in need of replacement.
Others don't see it that way. If it sounds good, there is zero, but not
negative crown, and the bearing is heavy - I would consider the board a
better risk to leave. If it sounds good (highly unlikely) with nearly zero
bearing and zero crown, I wouldn't trust it. How do I know for sure either
way? I don't, but I feel that after taking some measurements, I know a
whole lot more about the actual condition of the board than when I just
listened to it. 

In my opinion, judging a soundboard for such an expensive and "permanent"
procedure as a rebuild (ought to go another 80 years, after all), requires
considerably less optimism than deciding that this board, on this day,
sounds good enough to leave regardless of the condition of the crown.

I make a lot more rebuild estimates than I do rebuilds, for this reason.
Maybe a third of the estimates I make are on pianos that were previously
rebuilt, anywhere from 2 to 20 years ago where the original soundboard was
left, bearing added, and the piano sounding nasty enough now to force the
owner to look for a fix. I usually don't get these rebuilds either, though
some come through. Someone will always quote a lower price with a more
optimistic evaluation and, even if they don't particularly like the
outcome, they've spent the rebuild budget and live with it.


Ron N