The piano soundboard is often called the soul of the instrument. A great soundboard is the foundation for a round, singing tone and makes possible the dynamic control so vital to musical expression. A soundboard past its prime, or poorly built, restricts the dynamic range, making the tone harsh and brittle. Even a well-made soundboard will eventually succumb to the enormous forces from the steel strings, the ravages of age and effects of the environment. Replacing the strings and hammers, adjusting the tuning, voicing or regulating can never return a piano to its former glory if the underlying cause is an inadequate or deteriorated soundboard.

If the soundboard is the soul of the piano, then soundboard building lies at the heart of the artisan rebuilder's craft. In order to assure the best results, I make my own soundboard panels. The process begins with selecting rough wood for the characteristics needed to make a superior soundboard. The wood is re-sawn (thinner strips cut from wider stock on a special band saw) in my shop to the approximate desired thickness, and then air cured in the shop for at least two years. This seasons the wood by slowly bringing it to the proper moisture content, allowing the naturally occurring stresses in the wood to dissipate. Wood is then selected for each panel, dressed to proper thickness and edge-glued on a special press. From experience, I have found that hot hide glue, traditionally used in making soundboard panels, is far superior to any modern adhesive for this application. It does not lead to problems with ridging and eventual cracking at the glue line that plague soundboards built in modern factories using modern adhesives.

The soundboard panel is cut to fit the case of the grand piano and then planed to a uniform overall thickness and tapered at the edges. This thinning of the edges helps the soundboard vibrate as a single resonator rather than vibrating in smaller, separate areas. A fully tapered soundboard - about 1/8-inch thinner at the edges - can vibrate more freely, especially when the lower notes are played. Tapering is one of many important steps that are often overlooked in a misguided attempt to find short cuts that increase production. Golden-age pianos were originally made with tapered soundboards, and for good reason. Let's not cheapen these fine instruments to save a few bucks.

Careful attention is also given to selecting and dimensioning the ribs for each soundboard. For good tone and durability, a slight upward curve (crown) is machined into each rib. And, as is often found on older pianos, two species of wood are used. Pine ribs are used in the base and tenor to help filter out unwanted metallic noise, while spruce is chosen for ribs in the low and high treble to improve the capacity of the soundboard to sustain and carry the tone.

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