Wapin comparisons

[Richard Moody]

At the National convention in Reno, didn't the Wapin exhibit have a
M&H and the piano for Wally's hammer and voicing class was an M&H
rebuilt?    We missed an opportunity to hear the two together.  I
would have liked to have heard them in the exhibit hall.  The room
Wally was in, the ceiling was too low for piano music IMHO but even
more interesting would have been a comparision or the two in both
places.
    For another personal observation, I was down and across the hall
from the Overs booth and heard his piano being played and thought the
projection and bass sounded better than expected from a piano that
size.  I went over to his booth to complement Ron on this only to hear
someone saying it didn't project and the bass was poor. That the
person has a recognized name in the piano industry and at the
convention, didn't change my opinion of the piano.
    I didn't think of it at the time but Ron Over's piano would have
been a good one to put up against the Wapin and the rebuilt M&H.  I
agree with Tim Coates, it would be interesting to hear pianos in
direct comparison at the conventions. Then if someone wants to submit
a "control" piano that is fine too.
 ---ric




----- Original Message -----
From: Tim Coates <tcoates@dtgnet.com>
To: <caut@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 6:31 PM
Subject: Re: tapping pins (wapin)


|
|
| David Skolnik wrote:
|
| > At 04:23 PM 04/08/2002 +0000, you wrote:
| > >Hello,
| > >     The few Wapinized pianos I have played excelled in both
power,
| > > sustain, and especially clarity.
| > >-Mike Jorgensen
| >
| > But the unrepentant objectivist asks, "Where is the control in the
| > experiment? What would these same pianos, rebuilt by the same
rebuilder,
| > have sounded like with conventional bridge pinning?
|
| There have been pianos totally rebuilt conventionally and then Wapin
added after.  SSD 29 at University of Cincinnati was rebuilt be Don
Gibbs
| with a new soundboard, action, etc. and still wasn't right.  Wapin
was added and the piano changed dramatically.  It was this situation
that
| turned skeptics of Wapin working closely with Michael Wathen into
believers.
|
| Last April in St. Louis at the Central West Regional Seminar I
installed Wapin on the Killer Octave on a Baldwin SF10 that had been
totally
| rebuilt by Wim Blees and voiced by Wally Brooks.  There were about
10 people in the class and all agreed I had turned the weakest section
of the
| piano into the strongest section in a matter of 4 hours.  I did no
voicing, not even mating of the strings to the hammers.
|
| Perhaps the national convention should let us do our install seminar
so others can experience this.
|
| I will be doing the same install at Rochester, MN this coming
Saturday.  David, you should come <g>.
|
| As technicians installing Wapin, we aren't experimenting.  We are
doing it because it works, pure and simple.  There will always be
objectivists
| and we accept that.  That's life.  Wapin Co., LLP has moved on and
people are doing this.
|
| Tim Coates
| Wapin Co., LLP
|
|
|