Piano Construction Origins, was: Butt-Jointed Ribs

[Ron Nossaman]

>Del wrote:
>
>"....so much of early piano construction came from the wooden boatbuilding 
>industry of the day."
>
>Now you've got my interest! Is there some traceable lineage from boats to 
>pianos? I can't quite picture where pianos have things in common with 
>boatbuilding as opposed to furniture or buildings. I trust the use of hide 
>glue is not one of the things in common?
>
>Or are you just pulling my leg and now I am looking like a major dufus 
>because I fell for it?  ;-)
>
>Terry Farrell

The defining moment came when a daring and innovative young shipwright's 
apprentice built a small boat (against the better judgement of his boss) 
using edge joined planking, thoroughly dried in a large kiln, and glued on 
one side to thin flat ribs with a crowned keel on the opposite side, 
perpendicular to the ribs. As the evening fog crept in, the assembly curved 
into a rather convincing hull shape, to the accompaniment of much 
celebration all around. When they tested it in the bay the next morning, 
the thing continued curling until the gunwales met and it rolled over, 
filling with water, and went straight to the bottom with it's crew, who 
were unable to escape the rough equivalent of a large pea pod full of water.

The newly unemployed apprentice shortly found work at a nearby piano 
factory where his ideas were better received, and no lives were lost in the 
implementation.

To this day, there remains no documented instance of loss of life in the 
utilization of this method of constructing piano soundboards, though the 
cumulative aggravation backlog continues to mount.

At any rate, that's the way I heard it.

Ron N