If splits in the sound board do produce certain rattling or vibrating sounds, it is enough to place a wedge in the crack, otherwise, one must send the piano to a factory or repair shop to have the sound board replaced or properly repaired. Needs restoration, cracked sound board, original ivory keys, all strings intact. Graymarket pianos and cracked soundboards pianobuyer. The good news is that most cracks do not create a noticeable difference in sound. Other piano makers followed suit with many different conceptual designs. The soundboard is what allows the piano to project its sound. When an original soundboard needs restoration, we evaluate the board to ensure structural integrity, hand sand it and repair any damage utilizing our special methods. This has been used all over the world and it is a beautiful sounding piano. Digital pianos and keyboards are usually sturdy instruments that will provide years of joy and entertainment if properly maintained.
If you open up the lid of either your upright or grand piano and look down, you will see a shiny piece of wood that runs the down the back or the bottom of the instrument. What is a sound board how to check your piano sound. The case against repairing piano soundboard cracks part 1. Pianos, guitars, banjos, and many other stringed instruments incorporate soundboards. They never crack, but they are slightly dead or muffled.
It does demonstrate that the instrument has had some type of stress, most likely heatdryness or colddampness and the crack is the result. If your piano receives a shock, like a flood or a drop during a move or relocation, you may notice a more serious crack in your soundboard. More humid conditions cause sound boards to swell, pushing the wood grain with force causing the soundboard sometimes to develop a pressure ridge. However, remember that pianos are delicate by nature, and by applying too much pressure trying to fix it yourself could actually do more damage than good. It is the best sounding board, but with age, it can crack. Introduction to piano tuning removing action of upright piano removing action of grand piano removing action of spinet piano cle. Jul 25, 2012 ultimately the whole sound board should be taken out and replaced. Knabe baby grand piano 58 burled walnut, louis xvi.
Plate may be cracked or broken which cripples the piano musically and renders it virtually useless. Sounding board may be cracked, or worse yet, may have lost its crown to become totally deficient. Piano tuning and repair course index piano technician. The sound board, depending on the instrument, is called a top plate, table, soundtable, or belly. Joytunes are experts in creating educational and fun music apps for learning piano quickly and easily. At times the ribs underneath the piano attached to the sounding board may be detached, in need of repair to stop the buzzing. In an upright piano, the sound board is a large vertical plate at the back of the instrument. The resonant properties of the sound board and the interior of the instrument greatly increase the loudness of the vibrating strings.
With the exception of the us manufactured sounding board these, pianos were totally manufactured in montreal. Simply piano is developed by joytunes, creators of awardwinning apps piano maestro and piano dust buster. I have a vose and sons upright piano, serial number 33562. A thin board forming the upper portion of the resonant chamber in an instrument, such as a violin or piano, and serving to increase.
So youve noticed the soundboard of your piano has a crackor perhaps many cracks. The apps are used by tens of thousands of music teachers worldwide with over 1 million songs learned every week. It had a cracked sounding board when i purchased it. A piano s soundboard is one of the most important pieces on a piano. As long as the edges of the crack do not make a rattling sound by vibrating, it really isnt that problematic. One method for repairing cracks in a soundboard requires inserting a shim of wood into the cracked board.
Like the top of a stradivarius violin, the soundboard is the wood beneath all the strings and plate of the piano which gives it its unique quality of sound. Piano soundboard restoration is an exacting and timed honed process. Rates and answers to piano service, tuning, repair. Repairing or replacing a pianos soundboard bradfield piano. Used pianos certified used pianos steinway yamaha new. I inherited the piano and want to keep it in good shape and fix up the major problems.
No real music can come out of a conventional piano except through the sounding board. Ultimately the whole sound board should be taken out and replaced. After the sale of the piano line to weber, the outlet remained a popular place up into the 70s. There are certain things you should know about soundboards. Older pianos usually suffer collapse of the dome crown of the sound board and or fracture of the joints in the sound board and micro cracking of the bridge cap. This indicates that the piano could have been in a flood in the past, which could in turn cause rustiness on strings and sounding board cracks. What is a sound board how to check your piano sound board. This company at one time supplied 90% of the soundboards to the u. It is more a repair for a piano that is incredibly special or expensive, such as a concert grand steinway or bosendorfer that has a soundboard in really bad shape but is still worth restoring. Unless you have repaired a cracked soundboard before, we recommend contacting a professional. Jul 31, 2014 yamaha ydpv240 arius 88 key digital piano. He maintains that a piano is simply untunable if a cracked sound board exists, while i posit that it is possible to tune a piano with a cracked sound board. In many cases, the repairs are fairly simple in nature, and can be completed quickly. Keep in mind that even a deep split is not a cause for.
At the college i service for, our 9 bosendorfer has 2 or 3 cracks in the sound. Remove the plate, install rubber casters and use the piano shell as a stage prop. May be cracked or broken which cripples the piano musically and renders it useless. However, in many cases cracked soundboards go unnoticed because it usually does not influence the sound. Many cracked soundboards can be easily repaired, but unless there are other problems with the board, these repairs are usually cosmetic. The finish was destroyed, the sounding board cracked, the felt deteriorated, and the ivory keys resembled broken teeth. In the early 1900s, steinway and sons introduced their diaphramatic sound board a board that stands at around 58. More recently, sound boards have been made of laminated wood, or glorified plywood. Around the 1915 mark was when the first archambault instruments appeared for sale. May be cracked or worse yet, may have lost its crown to become tonally deficient. Strings bass strings may be tired and tubby, totally devoid of tone. For a grand that can be thousands, upright hundreds. This is very common in older pianos and sometimes causes buzzing on specific notes.
Simply piano is a fast and fun way to learn piano, from beginner to professional. A sound board, or soundboard, is the surface of a string instrument that the strings vibrate against, usually via some sort of bridge. A cracked sounding board will limit the value somewhat. What i really like about this is that they updated to take up less memory and they made it have faster load times. May 06, 2020 piano one is a great choice and it actually uses an extremely popular piano, the yamaha c7 concert grand. It was established by a man named dolge for whom the town is named.
Pronounced you excellent despite the cracked sounding board, we obeyed him and swabbed your ivories with hydrogen peroxide. But there are occasions when things go wrong and you must get it repaired. Older instruments, more than 50 years, have some sort of sounding board deterioration. Some piano makers curve the ribs to support the crown within the sound board. If you bend or break a contact beyond repair, a new contact board will be required. Using a sideboard or front board as the base, glue scroll work and reliefs in designs for wall art. For this reason, a crack in the soundboard reduces the soundboards ability to amplify. All stringed instruments have some type of soundboard most are built directly into the body of the instrument, such as the violin or the harp.
On some grand pianos, the number is stamped in the soundboard underneath. The sounding board is the heaviest, thickest part on the back of a piano. The traditional sound board is made of several five eighths thick boards which are glued side by side across the whole inside of the piano. Also for upright pianos, check for signs of water damage along the bottom edge. So youve noticed the soundboard of your piano has a crack. Sometimes its turned out to be surprisingly valuable. One of the suppliers that piano finders orders our new soundboard blanks from is north hudson woodcraft in dolgeville, new york. It holds a tuning really well, the sounding board is not cracked.
Piano tuning and repair course index piano technician academy. Knabe baby grand piano 58 burled walnut, louis xvi matching. The craft introduction to course piano styles, parts and history abcs of piano design actions upright, spinet, grand lesson 2. Craig turner immediately understood my attachment to the piano and restored the instrument to its former glory. If splits in the soundboard do produce certain rattling or vibrating sounds, it is enough to place a wedge in the crack, otherwise, one must send the piano to a factory or repair shop to have the sound board replaced or properly repaired.
It is also where all the string tuning pegs are screwed in. The sounding board is the most important single part in the piano because if the board is bad, you do not have a piano until there has been a major repair job. It has the authentic look, feel and most importantly the sound of an expensive acoustic grand piano. What is a sound board how to check your piano sound board duration. Dec 20, 2011 the heart and soul of your piano is its soundboard. Taken over by weber, in kingston, canada about 1924. These ribs help to distribute resonance and reinforce the board. T he pianos that have their soundboards replaced are often vintage pianos or pianos that have been exposed to adverse conditions. The grain of the rib runs at right angles to the grain of the sounding board.
At the college i service for, our 9 bosendorfer has 2 or 3 cracks in the sound board but, you would never know it and it tunes just fine. A good quality soundboard can l ast 100 years or more. In fact, the action or mechanics of the piano are not regulated or removed during the course of normal piano tuning. Any separation of a rib from the soundboard at a crack is a potential source of buzzing noises.
Salvaging and recycling pianos petrichs piano shop. Unless you have repaired a cracked soundboard before, we. Bottom line is, if you are going to replace a soundboard prepare to spend tens of thousands of dollars and definitely hire the best people you can find. Knabe baby grand piano 58 burled walnut, louis xvi matching bench ebay skip to main content.
May be cracked or worse yet, may have lost crown to. Place the piano in the yard and plant trees, flowers and bushes in and on it. Perhaps it looks less like a smooth, machined piece of. Northern virginia piano technology changed all that. If the piano is not buzzing during play, perhaps you may just leave it alone. I always love having an appraiser look at my stuff. We are sadly letting go of our wonderful sohmer upright piano. The ribs run perpendicular to the grain of the soundboard, and therefore perpendicular to any cracks. The soundboard is a large, thin wooden plate which acts as an amplifier of the sound produced by the vibrating strings its purpose is to radiate a large volume of sound over a wide frequency range. How costly is it to fixed a cracked sound board in a piano.
In a grand piano, the sound board is part of the case. A lot of technicians would have opted to repair the crack. There is a crack in my pianos sound board, caused, i believe, by being stored in an arid place. A cracked sounding board may or may not be serious. Jan 17, 2016 the spruce planks of a sound board are glued together and then held in place by wood strips called ribs. Most being 1921 and most with cracked sound boards. Piano one is a great choice and it actually uses an extremely popular piano, the yamaha c7 concert grand. You blocked a doorway and filled most of the living room. Common problems with digital pianos and how to repair them. Cracks and rib separations are usually repaired at. Wear to wood finish, sounding board cracked, piano and keys need cleaning. If the cracks have been filled with wooden shims, this means that, at some point, the piano was rebuilt and the cracks repaired.
In this case, consult with a professional piano technician. Cracks can be repaired, retaining the original soundboard. Constant pressure is placed on the board which allows the sound of the. Cracked sounding board, but plays well, with good sound. In the early 1900s, steinway and sons introduced their diaphramatic sound boarda board that stands at around 58. As long at the sound board hasnt come unglued from the ribs, there is a good chance you wont even know the difference. If the action of the piano has a problem before the piano is tuned, it will have the same problem after tuning unless repairs or regulation are performed to correct it.
Im not sure you can just glue it together, tho it is just wood, it should be completely wood, with no defects and sound. There is a crack in my piano s sound board, caused, i believe, by being stored in an arid place. In fact, small cracks are quite common and are usually not serious. Cracks in a piano soundboard are common and often are not sufficient reason to replace a soundboard. Its 88key graded hammer action keyboard delivers all. When choosing whether to repair or replace your soundboard, its important to consider the level of damage. A pianos soundboard is one of the most important pieces on a piano. Some of the nicest pianos ive tuned, have had cracks in the sounding board. A new soundboard is custom tapered and fitted into the specific piano. Bach includes lessons for different musical tastes and game levels. May be cracked or worse yet, may have lost crown to become tonally deficient.
The sound board is a five eighths inch thick wooden board in the back of the piano. If the sounding board is cracked at all then the piano can never hold a tuning because the tuning pegs slip turn in their sockets. Brigham larson, registered piano technician, dispels the myth that a broken soundboard always means a piano is no longer playable. Bass strings may be tired and tubby, totally devoid of tone. Like the top of a stradivarius violin, the soundboard is the wood beneath all the strings and plate of the piano which gives it its unique. Feb 07, 2012 in the early 1900s, steinway and sons introduced their diaphramatic sound boarda board that stands at around 58. Sounding board definition of sounding board by the free. The heart and soul of your piano is its soundboard. If its older and the sounding board is intact, you might want to take.