Mason & Hamlin BB Soundboard Crown

The question of the day- Wow, the board on this piano looks pretty good. I can see the crown. Maybe we shouldn't replace it. My answer- yes we should! Looks can be deceiving. I'd like to explain why. First off, the piano was built in 1963, making the piano 46 years old. My rule of thumb from my experience of replacing over 60 sound boards and repairing at least that many, is that any board over 40 years old should be replaced when the piano is rebuilt. My logic is that glue joints weaken with age. On this piano a soundboard steel can be pushed into the side of the rib showing a weakening glue joint.



The next issue with this piano are the bridges. The bridges definitely need recapped. Quality bridge recapping is impossible with out removing the bridges from the sound board. Gluing maple to maple requires a very precise joint and about 200psi clamping pressure, which is impossible to achieve while mounted to the soundboard. Removing the bridge from the board is messy, especially with the board still in the piano. You are dealing with screws hidden by beams, and doweling into the ribs, not to mention damage to the spruce panel as the bridge is removed.




Finally...the deception. The crown on this piano is not a natural crown, but a forced crown. The pictures show how the rim is crowned on the straight side and on the stretcher. Therefore the board has to have a crown, regardless of the condition of the board. Also the rim angle is nearly double what most quality pianos have. On this Mason it is a 1 1/2 inch rise over 4 feet.





In conclusion, I feel it would be unwise to not replace this board. If it is not replaced, I will not attempt to recap the bridges, but rather recondition them. Are the financial savings worth the risk of failure? I think not.