Caster Cups (OK, so it's a bit long...)

[Michael Jorgensen]

Del,
  While your at it, for $1600. per instrument plus expenses I'll be
happy to come to Hoquim and size the plate "tone holes" to "proper
consonant ratio" for improved tone.
MJ


Delwin D Fandrich wrote:
> 
> Jim, et al,
> 
> The part of the post that I was reacting to was "The comment was made that  putting a
> grand piano on caster cups would improve the tone and volume of a piano and make a 5'
> grand sound like a 6' grand."
> 
> I keep hearing how this one new technique or that one little trick is going to make "a 5'
> grand" sound like "a 6' grand." For some years now I have been studying and analyzing
> piano design and construction technology in an attempt to understand how pianos work and
> how to enhance the performance of pianos. For the past five years or so much of my
> business has involved the redesign and refinement of those designs to improve the
> performance over the original. And we do get improvements in that performance, but it is
> not all that easy to do. We have to do things like strategically reinforce rims and belly
> rails, we have to redesign soundboards and rib systems. We have to build new bridges to
> fit new stringing scales. We sometimes have to modify plates. And we do get improvements.
> But, if I've learned nothing else along the way, I have at least learned that it takes a
> lot more than placing a 5' grand piano on castor cups to make it sound like a 6' grand
> piano.
> 
> Yes, there MAY be some alteration in sound if a piano on one surface is placed on another
> type of surface. These alterations in sound may not always be for the better. And, usually
> what alterations there are will be subtle, if indeed they are noticeable at all. Moving a
> piano from a hardwood surface to a carpeted surface will make a difference. Moving a piano
> from a hardwood surface to a concrete surface may change sound field created by the piano.
> Moving a piano from one location to another in a given room will alter the sound field.
> But placing castor cups -- whether they be hard maple, brass, glass, plastic or solid
> bloody gold! -- under the castors of a 5' piano sitting on any of these surfaces will not
> make it sound like 6' piano.
> 
> Whenever I hear claims like this -- and yes, I've also been in classes where this comment
> has been made -- I'm reminded some of the dozens of voicing classes I've attended during
> which the voicing guru makes some tiny alteration to a hammer, carefully explains to the
> audience what they are expected to hear, slides the action in and asks, "do you hear
> that?" Most everybody in the audience nods in agreement. Until questioned privately, of
> course. Then they are not so sure. And, if asked to pick out the altered hammer, find it
> impossible to tell any difference at all.
> 
> Claims like this also abound in the audio reproduction business and lots of folks have
> gotten very rich selling super cables, connectors, spikes, and who knows what kinds of
> snake oil to people with more money than common sense. Now some of these products may
> actually make some slight and perhaps audible change in the overall performance of a good
> system. (Few, if any, of them stand up to blind A/B testing.) But the way some folks carry
> on you'd think that these speaker cables -- or whatever -- were the most important part of
> the entire system. I recently encountered a person who had spent just under $4,000 for a
> set of God only knows what kind of speaker cables. He had also spent just under $3,000 for
> a set of 8 gold plated titanium -- Or something like that. After the last two zeros, I
> lose interest -- spikes for those well-connected speakers to sit on. I guess if you have
> the money to dispose of on stuff like this, ok. Just please don't try to convince me that
> it has made some dramatic "improvement" in what was already a good system. It's snake oil.
> Period.
> 
> Now, having said all that, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce our new line of
> piano accessories. It's a rather limited line so far, but we'll be adding to it as we go
> along. Our research and development division is actively working on new products all the
> time. To start with, we are offering our solid gold plated titanium castor cups, each with
> a hard maple insert to equalize the speed of sound and better distribute the leg energy
> throughout the cup. A true bargain at only $4,500 for the set. We are also offering our
> new gold plated Hi-Speed Steel lid hinges (only $2,400 if ordered before February 30,
> 1999) that more efficiently couples sound energy to the often ignored front lid section,
> thereby increasing the tone radiating area of the lid by at least 20%. Combined with our
> new silver plated, cast brass bronze soundboard tone holes (a bargain at only $9,000/set)
> these accessories may make any 5' grand piano sound like a Bauble Creek 9' concert grand.
> In the future we expect to add quarter-sawn Sitka spruce tone reflectors (projected price
> only $3,900), solid lignum vitea tuning pin tone couplers (at a special introductory price
> 
> of only $55 ea. You'll need just one for each tuning pin, but remember that quality costs
> money. Lots of it.). Also under development is our special SnO-II soundboard polish (1/4
> liter for only $200.) designed to improve the coupling efficiency between the soundboard
> finish and the adjacent layer of air. We expect this polish to virtually double the
> acoustic power output of any spinet piano.
> 
> In time, as you can see, well have the entire piano accessory market pretty well covered.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Del
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> 
> JIMRPT wrote:
> 
> > In a message dated 5/4/98 11:54:15 PM, pianobuilders@olynet.com wrote:
> >
> > <<"Next we'll be hearing that our Dampp-Chasers have to
> > plugged in using nothing but oxygen-free Monster Cable.">>
> >
> > Del:
> >   Come on now, it's not that bad....... although..........the best wood for
> > cups does come from old growth forests, nesting trees are best, and the best
> > petroleum comes from virgin dinosaurs. :-)
> > Jim Bryant (FL)