[pianotech] Soundboard Repair

[Euphonious Thumpe]

Ha! Ha! Ha! (To you too, Joe!) And I'd like to mention that the board I did with regular West's epoxy (too thick to brush out well: had to be sanded in several directions before lacquering) was in a  little Packard grand (the worst condition board I ever fixed) with a lot of weird cracks too crooked to shim. And the customer wouldn't pop for a new board, so I filled them this way: rubbed masking tape onto the underside of the cracks really, really, hard, then brushed on a thin epoxy coat, including down into the cracks, and let it cure --- almost. Then brushed on a heavier coat (filling up the cracks) and let it dry completely. Then sanded all that flat to get rid of brush marks, and lacquered. I did it thusly, because previous experience filling cracks with epoxy, trying to do it all at once, caused the tape to break loose and the stuff to run out. This time, I made a little "U" in the crack with the first epoxy coat, to support the heavier
 second coat. (And did all that other business mentioned in my previous post about the screw-up soundboard flexors, drying the piano in a  "hot room" for  a week, and etc.. I also, though, before flexing out the board, filled the small space between the board and rim with CA, to keep the board from popping out during the shimming/flexing process. Something that may wreak the ire of a future rebuilder, but its all the customer would pay for, and it was only a 5'2" jobby. Though a NICE 5'2"!)
     
     I would be most grateful to be advised regarding refinements to this technique: including suggestions as to what RH I can put a piano in for a week to "do the trick", that will still be safe for it; and what to topcoat the board (including brand recommendations) with. 

Thanks!
Thumpe

P.S. Joe, it's not Thumpe(r), it's just, plain, Thumpe; as in my ancestor, the Earl of Thumpe.
(And the "e" on the end designates Klass, as one may attest to by the signs seen in front of innumerable shopping centres and subdivisions here in the Colonies, these dayse!)
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