There a lot of answers to the problem and plywood may be one.
"Larry Blanchard" wrote in message
...
Curran Copeland wrote:

Plywood is not an issue here since I have had the same results with solid
wood, the ply makes a better sounding board then the solid wood, for less
cost. Wood in sides is solid 3/4 stock either poplar or oak with the grain
running horizintal. Don't know how to float the the the end panels and
come
up with a solid box, that is one of the delimas I am having. Maybe making
the end boards of the box with a vertical grain would allow both to move
in

Making the ends vertical would just move the stress to the end/side joints.

How about making the whole thing of plywood? Veneered if you want to get
fancy.

There must be a solution to your problem, there's a lot of tongue drums out
there :-).

--
It's turtles, all the way down