Terry You always run the risk of being labeled when you put out there what you do for everyone's inspection. Now you've destroyed my illusion that you crank out perfect soundboard panels. I mean, you actually tolerate 1/4 mm variations during glue up??! :-) Hey, I'm coming your way. I'll be touching down in Ft Myers at 11:49 AM for a few days stay on Gasparilla. Keep the sun out for me, will you? Dean- a white boy who can't jump, looking to become a little tanner Dean May cell 812.239.3359 PianoRebuilders.com 812.235.5272 Terre Haute IN 47802 -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Farrell Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2008 1:54 AM To: Pianotech List Subject: Re: Beautiful Sitka Spruce At the risk of being labeled as building soundboard panels that are not quite perfectly uniform thickness, I'll share what I do. I plane subpanels down to final thickness. Then glue up subpanels (usually three or four subpanels) to make complete panel while paying close attention to edge joint alignment. I find that I can make most joints within 0.010" misalignment. I find alignment pretty easy with the panel clamps I am using. I then simply use a smoothing plane with a slightly rounded blade to remove any trace of subpanel misalignment. Just a couple fast sweeps of the plane gets anything that's there. I spend about ten minutes straightening things up on a panel after glue-up. Usually, I then give the panel a quick sanding with 240 grit paper. I mean, isn't that the sort of thing that, in part, gives each hand-crafted piano its own personality? Terry Farrell
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