A soundboard begins as a pile of very high quality Sitka Spruce from Washington state. It is perfectly clear, straight grained, and quarter sawn. The wood used is only the best of the best, and I might add, very expensive. The individual boards are laid out according to grain direction and overall size needed for the panel that will be constructed.
I then glue the boards together in widths of about 12" so I can plane them to the desired thickness in my thickness planer. This board was planed to 11/32".
The five panels are then glued into one large panel.
Using the old board as a pattern, the new board is cut to shape, but slightly oversized.
Meanwhile the rib stock is cut and shaped to fit precisely in the notches cut into the rim of the piano. The ribs are also quarter sawn spruce.
The spruce panel is then carefully hand fit into the rim of the piano. The goal is to match the shape of the board to the shape of the rim, with no gaps between the edge of the panel and the inside of the outer rim.
The ribs are indexed to the new soundboard, and then glued to the soundboard panel. The wood is dried to 5%EMC. The pneumatic press exerts 100PSI pressure to the glue line. The board is left in the press overnight.
Project completed. The old beside the new. Next up- bridges to be recapped, and new pinblock installed. These projects will take a few weeks, so see you then.
Do you implement some crown? So yes, at what time ? If not, why not ?
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