soundboard assumptions?

[Kenneth Jankura]

I tuned a '71 Acrosonic for a customer, and got a call shortly  
afterwards saying a few bass notes sound funny or out of tune or  
something.

I was close by and said I'd stop and retune any notes that might have  
strayed.

As soon as I played the piano I knew, uh oh, bass bridge has come  
unglued, you know the sound, volume down 50%, that thwacky impact  
noise, etc.

Indeed, the bass bridge had come loose from the apron, and you can  
see a 1/16th inch or more of space between the bridge and the apron  
at the upper end.

It is still touching at the lower bass end.

I will return later this summer to glue and screw it back together  
again to restore the glorious tone it once had.

My question is this:

Am I wrong to assume that because I see that gap, the bridge and  
strings are holding the soundboard 'up'?

That is, the soundboard has no (for lack of a better term) natural  
counter-downbearing force,

and, unstrung, would the bridge would sit lower than the bass string  
plane?

I know it doesn't matter very much in this piano in this situation.  
And yet I idly muse.

Note to self:  Muse loftier in future. Oh well......

Ken Jankura RPT
Newville, PA