ONE VERY BUSTED SOUNDBOARD

Here is the 'before' picture of an other-wise lovely sitar tabli I was asked to repair. The tumba at the tail-piece was shattered also.
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There are a few factors that contributed to this damage (other than some gorilla at Delta Airlines drop-kicking it out of the plane).
There's nothing wrong with a tabli that's a bit on the thin-side* but in this case it's one of the reasons it shattered the way it did. (*thin or thick is not the whole picture - it's also about wood-density, but that's for another post)
The real problem with this instrument was that the tabli/tumba joint was twisted. The tabli was a bit warped and the surface to which it was glued was not an even plain. When it was glued on originally, it was subjected to a lot of tight binding to force it into place (as is common). With all that potential-energy the first major bump and - BANG!
This forcing of a poor joint also contributes to poor or uneven sound. The process of putting it all back together properly usually improves the sound of the instrument through a bit of "de-damping" and evening-out of the stresses on the tabli.
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And here's the "after" along with a nice comment from the owner.
It is all well now, and sounds beautiful.