Loud Blow, Soft Blow

[Les Smith]

>
> >Michael Wathan wrote Aug. 12th:
> >>
> >> A hard blow produces a strong attack that is several times louder
> >> in comparison with the tone that immediately follows.  A soft
> >> blow will produce a many times much smaller attack than the hard
> >> blow relative to the tone that follows the attack.  Also, the
> >> softer blow does not last as long as the tone of the hard blow
> >> because the it was not given as much energy as the hard blow.
> >
>
> If you take a really good listen to the decay of the sound after various
> types of blows, you may notice that the loudness tends to decay more
> quickly.  What I mean by this, is that if you give a note a really hard
> blow, you should notice that the sound becomes quieter within the first
> millisecons after the initial blow.  You should also be able to notice
> that the sound becomes quieter during the next few seconds.  For a soft
> blow, the initial effect (during the first few milliseconds after the
> initial blow) is barely perceivable, and the decrease in the intensity of
> the sound does not decrease, as far as most ears can tell, during the
> next few seconds.  I am, of course, talking about good pianos.
>
> This discussion, however, sparks a question of my own.  On many pianos,
> in the extremes of the treble section, the sound often decays so rapidly
> that the sound is perceived as a 'knock' rather than a tone.  Not only is
> the sound unpleasant, but it also makes for very difficult tuning.  I
> have not experimented with altering wire size in this range, but I am
> curious if using a thinner wire would improve the sustaining ability of
> the note.  I do know that it would definately affect the tone of the
> notes in question, and from the previous discussion on breaking bass
> strings, increase the risk of snapping treble strings.
>
> Laurence Beach
> Vancouver BC
> Canada
>
Hi, Laurence!  Some pianos just have poor high treble sections. Turn-of-
the-century Chickering grands, older Cable-Nelson grands and older Bluthner
uprights and grands, for example, frequently are weak in the high treble.
And frequently neither changing the wire size, nor changing the wire type
(to a softer German wire, for instance), nor changing the striking point,
nor using a voicing solution on the hammers, nor even changing the hammers
themselves makes much difference. Brelieve me, I've tried! About the only
way those notes can be tuned with any degree of accuracy is by plucking the
strings with your fingernail or a guitar pick (saves the nails!).

Les Smith