Broadwood Grand

[Richard Brekne]

Ron Nossaman wrote:

> >Hi folks,
> >Have a customer with an 1886 Broadwood grand piano.
> >It is straight strung with a cast iron plate.  Where the tuning pins go thru
> >the plate the plate is threaded to accept the threads on the pins.
> >My question is what tension level were these pianos originally tuned to?  A4
> >= ? hertz.
> >The customer wants to go ahead with new tuning pins.  Do away with the
> >threads in the plate and make it conventially pinned.  If this is done can
> >this plate take the tension of tuning the piano to A440?
> >Thanks.
> >Doug Mahard
> >
>
> Hi Doug,
> The tension difference between A435, and 440 is about 1000lbs in a modern
> grand without changing the string scaling. You'd have to measure the scale
> in this one to really find out what you've got to work with. Sure, pianos
> can be rescaled to minimize such problems, but that's looking a bit too far
> ahead. The first question is why is the work being considered in the first
> place? If any modifications are made to "modernize" the instrument, what
> does the customer expect to get when it's done? I'd be concerned that he
> will expect it to sound like a new, modern piano with just a restringing,
> while leaving the look of something old, for the room decor. That's a
> guaranteed losing proposition for you, your customer, and the piano.

Curious to know your reasoning for this last statement.

Richard Brekne
I.C.P.T.G.  N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway

> Then
> there's the "historical artifact" preservation thing to consider, which is a
> number one priority for a lot of folks. In any case, I think that before
> modifications are made to any customer's piano, both the customer and the
> tech should have a pretty clear (and very similar) idea of both the intent,
> and the expected results.
>
>  Ron N