Bill, and others, PS - for those NEW to this thread please read Bill's original quote below first. My pitch is: It all depends upon whether there are, or are not, "carnivores" in the "cavernous" dining hall where this 1901 Steinway B normally resides, and, if there are, how many and upon what, or who, they have been dining and how long ago since they dined:-))) Moving the piano out of this "cavernous" environment and expecting to re-condition the effects of years of this kind of exposure is bound to provoke an identity crisis at the least. (Snapping, growling, screaming and Images of a Jurassic Park for Pianos ? - Speilberg, a comedy of terrible proportions exists here for your exploitation ?) AlanD (from a land where there were Cannibals before there were Pianos and where the Pianos now outnumber the Cannibals) >-----Original Message----- >From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org >[mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]On Behalf >Of Bill Ballard >Sent: Thursday, June 25, 1998 12:04 AM >To: pianotech@ptg.org >Cc: YBarn@aol.com >Subject: Down on the Hitch Pin Web > > >Esteemed Colleagues, I'd like to know what's real here, so pitch in > >A 1901 Stwy B (with a new belly at the factory restoration >center in 1941) >sits in the carvernous dining hall of a local private school >and is tried >(and selected for use) by pianists involved in a summer chamber music >program for college-agers just down the road. This piano has very >respectable resonance judging by the direct sound (not being >fooled by the >ambient reverberation of the dining hall). > >The piano gets moved to the summer music program's main >performance stage, >a small, nicely remodled barn (we're talking rural VT here, >gang), and >immediately the musicians complain that the top third of the >piano is dead. >My first reflex, to file hammers, sharpens up the sound, but >the impression >of poor balance of that region with the rest of the scale >remains for the >pianisit, violinist and cellist preparing for the season >opener. We explore >many ideas. Given the tropical RH here ever since the end of >May and the >unaimous description "it sounds stuffed up", we choose to >run the powerful >air conditioning full time (and set about 200W worth of desk >lamps on the >floor under the board) on the assumption that high RH increases crown >increases downbearing increases board loading which >decreases sustain. (The >standard dial indicator reads 10-15 mils of db in that region, and db >throughout is ample.) Maybe the hammers are >water-logged,though they're all >ready filed down to the nub. > >Yes, although both spaces are remodeled barns, the smaller >space has no >reverberance. (For years it has relied on direct sound, and >the consensus >this morning is that the strings have no trouble projecting.) > >The pianist then mentions a technician once worked a miracle >with a similar >dead treble by adjusting the bolt which ties to the bell. >(He has no idea >in which direction.) I crank crank up 3/4 of a turn until the bolt is >loose. The pianist plays, but nobody hears any difference. I >go back down >to the starting point, and beyond by 1/2 turn until it >begins to require >uncomfortable amounts of torque. In neither case does the >dial indicator >show a change in db. But going down, they all say, yeah that >sounds more >like it. > >What's going on here? Is there a real effect? There is of course Rick >Davenport's oft-told story of Heiner Seinwald doing exactly >this same thing >(or recommending that Rick do the same). I can understand >not seeing an >immediate change in db on the way upwards, as the plate might not >immdiately react to take new upward freedom. But what gives in the >direction down when the db doesn't show a change and the >musicians hear a >difference? Is the pianist simply getting used to the newly >filed hammers? > >I less interested in suggestion on voicing (or for that matter, new >strings/hammers which it badly needs, or even discreet sound >reinforcing) >than on people's specific experience with reseting the htich >pin web at the >bell. >But I'll consider all comments (including the one about the >santero priest). > >TIA > >Bill Ballard, RPT >New Hampshire Chapter, PTG > >"May you work on interesting pianos." >Ancient Chinese Proverb > > >
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC