Re: [tuning] Digest Number 2070

> From: Alison Monteith

>I have three 8" x 36" x 1/4" spruce tops that I want to make into one
>large board. Before I just glue and rub together I wonder if anyone has
>experience of this type of craftwork and can offer some tips. The tops
>are best quality and expensive and I don't want to botch up the job.

>I'll be stringing the canon with 31 plus steel strings going from
>(roughly) 22s to 14s, bass to treble, so there's a slight bass to treble
>difference in tension, but not as much as on a guitar. Any advice on
>struts and bracing would be useful.

Greetings,
The best glue you could use would be hot hide glue, but it requires a bit
of experience, pre-sizing, and a gluepot. Perhaps Titebond would be a better
choice.
Be aware that anytime you glue wood to another piece of wood and the
grains are crossing, there will be a containment factor, ie, if you glue a
brace under a dry piece of wood, when the moisture rises the board will begin
to arch because wood swell across the grain. So..... you want to know what
moisture content your soundboard has before you glue a brace across the
grain. In the piano world, the board is usually VERY dry when the ribs are
glued and the swelling produces a "belly" in the soundboard that is then
glued into the rim of the piano.
Good luck,
Ed Foote
Nashville, tN.