Steinway upright rebuilding

[Mark Dierauf]

>This will be my third restringing job, but the first time I have contemplated
>changing a scale design.  I desire to correspond with someone who has
>experience in scale design to walk me through the measurements and
>calculations necessary.  Recommendations of good books to study about scale
>design are welcome also.

 I would disagree with the other comments suggesting that Steinway scales can't
be improved upon. Although I have never rescaled a Steinway upright, I have done
M's and O's with great success. I have also redesigned A's and B's, although I
haven't yet restrung one of these models with the re-designed strings. Here's a
quick rule of thumb, though - if there is any foreshortning of the strings in
the low tenor (look for reverse curve at the bottom of the tenor bridge), then
you can almost certainly improve this area by adding a few wound bichords.
Otherwise, you'll be stuck with low tension, high inharmonicity strings that
tend to have a nasel quality and are less pitch-stabile in changing humidity.
You may also realize stability improvements at the treble breaks, where the
string lengths change more radically.
 In the bass section, most all pianos exhibit wildly fluctuating tensions and
inharmonicity - and Steinways are no exception. I believe that this has more to
do with the desires of string makers to facilitate their job than it does with
any design considerations. They simply prefer to use as few core (and wrap)
sizes as possible, which may make sense from a manufacterers point of view, but
definately not from a tonal point of view. Steinway also uses only singlewound
strings, which severly limits the available overall diameters.
 Perhaps the most important thing to bear in mind, though, is that any time you
order bass strings, you are in effect rescaling - because the string makers will
change the design to fit their wire stocks, and will often increase the
unwrapped end lengths of the strings. So the question becomes "who is going to
rescale this piano, me or the string maker?". Incidentally, If you're wondering
why I seem so commited to the idea of rescaling, it's partially because I am one
of those developing and marketing DOS rescaleing software. Contact me via e-mail
for more info on this.
 As for the rest of the job, I would reccomend Steinway hammers (get them
unbored from the factory - they will only bore them for the new model K's, and
they are *not* the same boring), and as somebody else suggested, be very wary of
the old damper levers. Even if the old levers are in good shape, you should
probably build a lot more time into your estimate for their regulation. If you
need to do any hammer traveling then the double flanges will cause the dampers
to travel, too. Also beware that when using many spoon benders, the spoons may
want to turn instead of bending - a real pain in the neck!

            good luck on this.

                  Mark Dierauf