Soundboard Moisture Content

[Richard Brekne]

I dont know that there is a <<normal>> in  any sense of the word besides 
the definition that goes along the lines of <<average>>.  There is a 
level that the instrument was designed for... usually a resultant of an 
RH factor of around 50.  There is an operating range that runs somewhere 
between 4.5 and 14 % emc.... and this can be exceeded to the severe 
detriment of the panel.

 21 % is either wrong or a measure of something other then mc me 
thinks.  I've never used a pin type instrument for mc, and have been 
cautioned on more then one occasion about the dependability of the 
readings. I suppose tho... that as with most things, some are better 
then others.

Cheers
RicB


Greg Newell wrote:

> Can anyone give me an idea of the normal moisture content of a 
> soundboard? The current conditions are Northeast Ohio older home but 
> fairly well insulated. The heating system adds moisture to the room 
> via an April air type unit in the forced hot air furnace. The piano is 
> a roughly 10 year old Petrof. The weather lately is normal spring type 
> weather for this region i.e. 35-55 ish degrees with off and on rain. 
> The customer used a pin type moisture meter on his own soundboard and 
> reported a 21% reading.
> Have any of you taken readings directly on the board with either a pin 
> type or a pin-less type meter ad compared them to the Hygrometer 
> reading some of us normally take? Would it be useful information to 
> obtain these readings? If you were buying one for the main purpose of 
> measuring boards would you buy pin type or pin-less? Why?
> Thanks in advance for your inut.
>
> Greg Newell
> Greg's piano Forté
> mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net
>