It's Alive!!!!

[A440A@aol.com]

Wim writes; 
<< the piano only comes 
out of it's hiding place for special occasions. (No, sun down is not a 
special occasion here in Alabama, especially not on Sundays.) Since we got 
the piano 
in August of last year, there have been about 12 performances on it. The 
piano is voiced, regulated, etc., so I don't quite understand when a 
performer 
says there is no life in the piano. Not even our piano faculty agrees with 
that, 
although they do think the piano is a little stiffer than the older one.  >>

Greetings, 
    New pianos are like new baseball gloves, they don't provide optimum 
control until they are broken in. This is particularly true of Steinways, since it 
seems that they come out of the factory in a VERY green state.   That 
means,(to me) some things need to happen to get a good feeling piano (assuming 
geometry is good enough to keep the front weight down to reasonable levels on the 
keys).
   I agree with Don, playing this piano a lot right now will probably wake it 
up in the following manner. 

    Hammers= PLAY THEM IN!  If you lacquer the hammers to optimum brilliance 
and range all at once, the piano will become thin and harsh quite quickly.  
So,  nowdays, it seems the factory wants to begin with too soft hammers. Let 
students play them until they begin to develop some high end "edge" to go with 
that big round sound.  Then take it away from them and save the piano from 
premature wearing out.  
    Strings=  stringing is usually very unsettled, ie, long bends around the 
hitch and bridge pins that need to be tapped straight while at pitch or a 
little above.  Also, the string bends under the agraffes and vbars need to be 
helped to a straightness that they can't achieve on their own by simple tuning.  
>From what I have seen, the string leveling on the new pianos is non-existant 
after the first couple of pitch raises.   
    Pinning =  is suspect on these new pianos,  It takes a couple of hours to 
dismount a set of hammershannks from the rail and repin to a consistant 
swing, (I like 5-6 swings this time of year).  Without this, all regulation is 
useless.   You might also check the damper assembly for excessive guide wire 
friction and the pinning.
    Compression=  All the soft stuff in the action train, ie, halfrounds, 
capstan felt, and knuckle  are at their softest.  This wastes effort and until 
these things are packed down, the response will feel vague at the keyboard. 
     Once you have an action that has say, 500 hours of playing on it, the 
felt will be hardened up some, and the hammers should have a good packing in. 
THEN you should be able to regulate it and have a nicely responsive instrument.  
 (of all the above, hammer hardness seems to be by far the most influential). 
Good luck, 
Ed Foote  
  
  



Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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