Duplicity on a Grand Scale

[Ron Nossaman]

>Ron,
>    You right, I'll forget duplexes. Speaking of killer octaves and
>soundboards that don't work, what's news with Del Fandrichs' "Killer B"?
>Will the powers that be make any changes to their soundboards as a
>result of that?
>-Mike
>


Mike,
Why would they? They have been making them that way for a hundred years and
selling them as fast as the finish drys. I serviced an S&S L yesterday that
had one of the worst killer octave areas I've heard in a new piano (one year
old). Her comment was, "Isn't that a beautiful tone?". - No - There's a new
Baldwin L with the same problem here. Same comment from the customer, same
response from me. This is the accepted "state of the art", and until people
can chose between something like this, and something that sounds like it
should (or can), sitting side by side, it isn't going to change. Even then,
it might not. Del is currently trying to find a manufacturer that will build
his designs to his specifications. I hope he's having better luck than I
expect.  

These acoustic improvements can be made in almost any decently built piano
during rebuild. A lot of pianos can be "killerized". It's not specific to
the "B", or even Steinway. Del's doing this all the time, and I'm in the
middle of my third one (I don't believe I'll catch up, but this is the work
I want to continue to do). This stuff works. If Del is successful in getting
his pianos built and in piano showrooms, some folks are going to have to
redefine their concepts of good piano tone. This isn't a detail, or trick.
Nor is it a modification of existing problems to try to minimize the
obnoxious effects. It's a basic redesign, with all the interdependent
complexity you would expect from such a process. This is a result of
starting from scratch and rethinking the standard concepts of what makes
pianos work. It's the result of hard headed basic research and a refusal to
accept anything that can't be logically justified, measured, or proven. It's
the result of designing for performance rather than accepting traditional
shortcomings and scrapping ideas that don't improve the product. I expect
he'll finish the list when he replies. Maybe he'll have good news from the
manufacturing front.

 Ron