Shallow ribs on great old boards.

[Richard Brekne]

Erwinspiano@aol.com wrote:

>   It is my personal opinion that most uprights are not dependent on 
> crown for tone production.

 I  would have to concur. Its not crown perse... it is the stiffness 
that comes from crown.  Which goes back to one of the long standing, and 
as yet not successfully refuted claims persuiant to the CC board camp... 
that compression damage is not really (necessarilly) damage per se at 
all, that a CC board that has lived a very successfully life and slowly 
but very evenly been compressed flat will retain (exactly because of 
said compression) a substantial part of its initial stiffness, 
explaining why so many old boards seem to perform so acceptably well as 
to in reality represent an viable alternative to the <<new piano>> sound 
and actually appeal to a significant minority of pianists / 
pianotechnicians / piano enthusiasts. 

>  Yes some sound better than others & some have a variety of rib 
> configuration. I believe it's primarily a mass driven system. The 
> upright board is tapered like a wedge . Thiicker at the top or treble 
> a much thinner toward the bottom & most have 11 or 12 ribs which adds 
> mass & stiffness as well. The best sounding ones though have real rib 
> structure & at least some bearing

I'll buy that no problem

>  
>   My sister has an Ivers & pond Upright & though it sound quite good 
> it has a weakness in the treble area which is a lack probably a lack 
> of mass. With ribs that shallow it could not have ever had much if any 
> crown.
>   JMho
>   Dale

Nice post indeed.  Cheers Dale

RicB

>     Interesting. This may be superfluous, but I would like
>     to mention that some of the best-sounding old upright
>     pianos I have seen have very wide, shallow ribs. And
>     no cracks in the still very "live" boards. Knabe.
>     Ivers and Pond. Mason.
>          Not intending to muddy things here. I believe in
>     and support the idea of rib-crowning. But how did
>     these allegedly CC boards survive in Georgia for 100
>     years so well? Lots of varnish?
>          Thump
>
>