Recrowning the soundboard

[Robert Goodale]

Hmmm, some interesting points, BUT...

Sound boards in pianos are not violins.  Pianos have 20 tons of tension on
them, much of which is reflected down on the sound board.  Violins are also
constructed differently in that the top of a violin is largely carved into a
crown rather than bent into a rim.  There is some bending but the tensions are
different.  True, boards loose their crown but I am not aware of any procedure
that can "restore" crown.  Crown is not only established by the ribs but also
by the wood fibers themselves which are prone to break down.  Sound boards also
become notorious for becoming brittle as they age leading to further cracks
down the road.  The hide glue becomes brittle and crystallizes with age leading
to rib separation.  Likewise bridge caps require replacement too.  This is
typically included in a board replacement.  When the job is completed with a
new board, new ribs, and new bridge caps, assuming that is was done correctly
the piano will be as it was when it left the factory.

Sound boards are not "sacred" and it is not a sin to replace one.  They become
old and tired and when repairs, gluing, shims, and so on are no longer a
permanent solution it is time for replacement.  If a board looses crown and
becomes riddled with cracks after 75 years there is no way repairing it is
going to make it last another 75 years.  It will deteriorate again and you are
back to the same problem.  Now what does one do?  Patch the board again until
it looks like a quilt?  Replacing a sound board is a big job, very involved and
with certain components requiring measurements ranging into the hundredths of
an inch, but it is by no means an unreasonable task.  Those who installed them
were not gods, just hourly employees at a piano factory who did nothing but
install sound boards for 30 years because that was what the manufacturer
trained them to do.

I have been to Art Reblitz' shop and consider him a friend.  He does a lot of
very specialized work on extremely rare and valuable instruments and does
repair some sound boards, however he also has a nice sound board press and
replaces them when required.

Just some points to be considered.

Rob Goodale, RPT
Las Vegas, NV



"D.L. Bullock" wrote:

> Forgive me for all capping, I think that the soundboard is important.
> Unless someone has driven a truck through the old soundboard, I would not
> replace an old one with a new one.  The exception is flood damage where it
> sat wet long enough to get major reverse crown.  Then I would keep the old
> board only if I could get it out of the piano and get all the ribs off
> without major damage.
>
> If you allow me this observation.  You would never consider restoring a 280
> year old Stradivarius violin by tossing out the soundboard and replacing it,
> would you?  But we would with a piano much younger?
>
> Recrowning the soundboard is not a procedure that can be written in an
> email.  I have been writing on a booklet for some time that details such
> work.  I may have it available on my soon-to-be-put-up website in a few
> months.  It involves putting the soundboard back under the pressure it had
> on it when new.  If you think of the top and bottom surfaces of the
> soundboard as two parallel lines starting and ending at the same points, you
> will realize that if the top line is made longer it pulls the bottom line
> into an arc.  the ends stay together and do not move.  This is the whole
> principal.  Art Reblitz does the same procedure that I do.  Perhaps he will
> also write a book about it.  It makes the difference between an old piano
> sounding like an old piano after restringing and that same piano sounding
> like a new one but with an extra roundness or darkness of tone.  It also
> prevents soundboard shims opening up from cracking down one side a few years
> later.
>
> D.L. Bullock
> www.thepianoworld.com
> St. Louis
>
> --------Original message------------
> <Date: Wed, 22 May 2002 23:07:20 -0500
> <From: Ron Nossaman <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com>
> <Subject: Re: Liberace, Borge, and Stieff but not together
>
> <>I would put your Stieff
> <>upright fully restored and WITH THE ORIGINAL SOUNDBOARD RECROWNED up
> against
> <>any major brand grand under 7ft that I have seen in the last 20 years.
>
> <D.L.,
> <Since we've apparently finally reached the ALL CAPS level of soundboard
> <recrowning enthusiasm, and since three others have already asked, how about
> <sharing your method(S) of RECROWNING ORIGINAL SOUNDBOARDS?
>
> <Ron N
>
> -------------------------------------------