soundboards

[Don Mannino]

Ron,

As soon as you realize that Pianos and Violins have almost nothing in 
common, you will understand why there is absolutely no correlation between 
old violins and old pianos.  Beyond having strings, being made with wood 
and making noises of varying degrees of musicality, they are completely 
different creatures with very different physics behind how they work.

When a piano soundboard fails, it fails mechanically.  Wood fibers are 
crushed, the wood is deformed, and it no longer works the same as when it 
was new.  Some feel that restoring the crown is enough to bring it back to 
life, and to some degree it does.  The tone from new wood is different, 
though, and many (most?) feel that new wood sounds better until time and 
stress do their  work again.

Lots and lots of variables in pianos cause technicians to have the widest 
possible range of experiences with old soundboards.  Wood density and type, 
soundboard and rib scaling, crown and bearing, string tension, rim 
construction, environmental conditions, type and amount of use, and many 
more factors vary how each piano deteriorates over the years.  These 
variables also change how restorable the soundboard is, and rebuilders will 
tell you that some soundboards can be dried, stretched and shimmed with 
good success.  Others will say this is nonsense, their experience shows 
that only new boards really restore new tone.  Both will be right within 
the scope of those pianos that they worked with and with pianos that live 
in their climates.

 From what I have heard, old violin tops do not generally fail structurally 
from compression and collapse (at least well made ones).  They are made 
completely differently, and they work very differently, than piano soundboards.

Remember this maxim: The only thing that Violins and Pianos have in common 
is that they both burn.

A piano burns a wee bit longer, though, which is why it is the better 
instrument.  :-)

Don Mannino RPT