Soundboard Compression & Cracks

[Ron Nossaman]

>Take a compression-crowned soundboard that is not collapsed (still has some
>crown) that also has a few cracks through which you can see daylight. How
>can this be? 

Because the panel is glued to the rib along the entire length of the rib,
and not just at the ends. Multiple little compression crowns end to end on
the same rib bends the entire rib just like as if the panel were intact.
Check the archives, I believe this was discussed at some length a few weeks
back.



> But then why/how
>is it that one area of the board can be under compression and an inch or two
>away, the board is under tension????????

Because the wood was crushed enough in that growth ring to not rebound like
the un cracked growth ring next to it. Trees have good and poor growth
years, resulting in uneven density, hardness, and resilience in the grain
of the lumber cut from it. Some layers will take more abuse than others.


>What is it about the soundboard that is soooooooooo interesting? Or is my
>life just that dull?
>
>Terry Farrell

There seems to be an inexhaustible supply of questions and peculiar
theories about both, I'd say. If everyone got owners' manuals so we didn't
have to start from square one, we might have both figured out by now.

Ron N