My piano, Chickering

[Michael J. Wathen]

I know that I said in a previous post that my 100 year old Chickering was
"maybe a little weak" but after ddf's most recent post saying 

>Actually, I'd have replaced the soundboard and capped the bridges. There
>is no way that a soundboard that old can have the necessary amount of
>stiffness that it needs to provide the proper impedance load to the
>strings. Both sustain and tone quality will have suffered. Assuming that
>wasn't an option for you, I'd suggest that you still need a certain
>minimum amount of string load on the soundboard. Forget about crown,
>there isn't going to be much left after a hundred years, if any. But
>without some sting load against the bridge (i.e., downbearing) you're
>going to have a tough time realizing even what little tone performance
>the old board does have left to give. 
>

I thought that I would stand up for the old girl.  I have had lots of pianos
in my house over the last twenty years but she is the best.  What I said
about her being "maybe a little weak" was said in jest. Her age is
deceiving.  I am not saying that you are wrong in what you say above only
that this one defies the odds for good sound.  You can listen to two sound
clips on the page below and judge for yourself.  The miking is not the best
and it is in mono so the depth and some richness is lost.  Still..... 


http://ucccm56.ccm.uc.edu/sound/index.htm
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 Michael J. Wathen, RPT			Phone:	513-556-9565
 Piano Technician			Fax:	513-556-3399
 College-Consevatory of Music		Email:  Michael.Wathen@UC.Edu	
 University of Cincinnati
 Cincinnati, OH 45221-0096
 
http://www.uc.edu/~wathenmj/