Soundboards

[Ron Nossaman]

>Sorry for the delay in my post here - been out of town for a couple days.
>Just had to put my 2 cents in though, as my jaw still drops when I think of
>the following: I bought a NEW Steinway 1098 several years ago and upon
>checking out the shape of the soundboard found it to have a REVERSE crown to
>the tune of over 1/4-inch. Piano didn't sound bad. I really started to get
>intrigued about pianos when I observed that the pinblock was pulling away
>from the back frame! This problematic piano is what first got me interested
>in piano technology.
>
>Terry Farrell


Hi Terry,
It's not at all unusual with a lot of different brands of all ages to find
soundboards in that condition. My policy is generally to leave it alone if
the owner doesn't have complaints with the sound, regardless of how I think
it sounds. Sometimes they really don't sound bad at all. The thing that
always disturbed me about this sort of thing is that often enough, the
sound will get worse and worse until the customer does notice it, usually
two years after the warranty expires, and will want to know why they
weren't notified about it. They won't ask me that if they don't know that I
knew, but I did know and didn't tell them. Conversely, when the customer
notices the sound early, and it's determined to be caused by the collapsed
soundboard, I'm suddenly in a no pay, no win war with the manufacturer
about what the problem really is. Only one manufacturer has ever believed
me when I described a soundboard problem, the rest all wanted it to be
something easier to fix. After the parade of manufacturer arranged techs
who tune, voice, regulate, buff and exorcize first the piano, then the
owner, and the dust finally settles, the sound problems are still there. I
am naturally the bad guy then, since I initially diagnosed the problem (
incorrectly, of course - it just CAN'T be the SOUNDBOARD!) and I declined
to somehow make it go away for them quickly and cheaply, and thus cost them
a lot of money trying to patch up the problem I caused. 

So what does a tech do in these cases? If I don't mention problems to the
customer, than I'm not doing them the service I feel they have coming for
entrusting their instrument to me in the first place. If I do mention this
type of problem, I'll spend all my time battling manufacturers for free and
starve to death. I can offer to battle the manufacturer at an appropriate
rate of pay from the customer, but I've tried that and they universally
feel that they shouldn't have to pay someone to make their warranty good. I
agree. Another option would be for me to be one, or all of the guys in the
parade who tune, voice, etc, and soak the manufacturer for as much money as
I can get out of them going through the motions before I, reluctantly,
decide that it must be the soundboard after all. This seems to be the most
popular route, but I just can't do it when I know what the problem is going
in and could save everyone a lot of time and money if only...

So that's a fairly accurate, if distasteful outline of your options with
your piano. You can keep playing it, enjoy it, and hope for the best. It
might actually never get to be a problem for you. Or you can alert the
manufacturer, or dealer, and start the show. It might not be a bad idea to
alert the dealer anyway, pre-conditioning him to the idea that you might
have a warranty claim coming up some time before it expires - or not. 

Has anybody else got any suggestions for these situations? Hopefully one
where the problem gets fixed.



Ron N