Do you dry the ribs, along with the board, prior to gluing ?

[Richard Brekne]

Hey Thump...

While there is a fairly substantial body of evidence to back up the 
basic premise that old... or aged wood gets stiffer (and more brittle) 
and that especially perpendicular to the grain this can be seen as a 
positive in soundboard application... exactly for the reason of 
lessening the degree of anisotropy with respect to sound wave 
propagation.... I dont see that this in itself even if you grant it all 
right out as full blown truth means that old wood is better for 
soundboards.  I certainly am willing to accept anyones preferences as 
such... especially if they can demonstrate that they can identify such 
tastes in blind tests of various sorts.

If D.L. Bullock has a method of restoring crown... and more importantly 
crown strength in any kind of an old soundboard... I am quite sure we 
would all love to hear about it. To date the most promising method I've 
heard is this idea of rib extenders.... which are of course difficult at 
best to install on many instruments.

I have no problem at all with your closing line... quite the opposite 
its a basic stance I've taken for many years... as long as the 
subjective bit is underlined. That puts things in the realm of taste and 
preference where much if not most of this kind of thing belongs. Fair 
enough.

Cheers
RicB


    In old woods the resins have oxidized to the insides of the cell
    walls, allowing for more vacuous cavities which, along with the
    diaphragmatic  aspect of the board, color the tone. It also helps
    the vibrations travel from point to point in the board better, as
    old wood is therefore denser and stiffer ( i.e. transmits vibrations
    better than newer, softer, vibration absorbing wood. )  That said, a
    new board with nice crown , well made, certainly is impressive:  but
    will develop compression set ( which the old board has, already and
    probably as much as it ever will ) and so the old board's only real
    disadvantage ( besiders the fact that it was made with hide glue,
    which is more susceptible to breakdown from humidity swings than
    modern glues ) is that it  has lost crown. I'm seeking a method
    which remedies this, and D.L. Bullock claims to have found it, and
    successfully used it, for years. 

    I'm not at all interested in fighting over this. Yes, "better" is
    subjective. So what ?

    Thump