Old uprights - think twice?

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Caught" <caute@optusnet.com.au>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: December 18, 2000 7:23 AM
Subject: Re: Old uprights - think twice?


> Hi Peoples,   Sorry for the rave.
>
> It sometimes seem that the longer we are in business the more respect we
> have for the older pianos.

Perhaps because we, also, are getting older?



> I remember 20 odd years ago that conversations I was having with pianists
> and music teachers that the old piano has that "sound" but the new pianos
> all sound high or tinny or sharp or something at that time I could not
> describe.  To you, today I would say the old pianos were strung at a lower
> tension and thus had a lower inharmonicity rating.

Having measured and evaluated literally hundreds of scales on older upright
pianos, I must question this observation. Most of those I've looked at have
had overall tensions ranging from well into the upper 30,000 lb (13,600 kgf)
to the mid 40,000 lb (18,160 kgf) range with the occasional wildcat scale
going into the 50,000 lb (22,700 kgf) range. Most of them start off quite
low at C-88, going up rapidly one or two octaves down. Nearly all of them
take a severe dip at the bottom end of the tenor bridge. Bass string
tensions are all over the ball park, with some being extremely high, others
being quite low.

In other words, there is little rhyme or reason to most of them. And, yes, I
know. At this point, somebody is going to dredge up one that that was
exceptional and try to use it to prove the point. I can only say that
finding even a half-way decent scale on an old upright is going to be the
exception, not the rule. Fortunately, there is a lot of lattitude here.

The one thing most of them did have was decent hammers. Hammers having some
actual resiliency. The industry had not yet entered the era of harder is
better and 'POWER SELLS!' Give me POWER or give me nothing at all! That
sales schlock out there must have POWER if he/she is going to be able to
sell these things with absolutely no knowledge of the product he/she is
selling. (If you're selling pianos and you do know something about them,
don't blame me -- this whole situation just makes your job more difficult.
Lobby for better pianos.)



> New pianos to me are new pianos.  Some new pianos tonally die after 6 or 7
> years, even good ones. I don't profess to know the real reasons why, I
guess
> at things like kiln dried timber, timber selection, glues used, shaped
> soundboards, the desire to always reduce costs in production via cheaper
> materials and labour, the list goes on.

I'd start by looking at the at the mass and stiffness of the soundboards,
Many, if not most of these modern, mass produced pianos are using
soundboards that are much more massive and stiff than those found in their
older counterparts. Next, I'd look at the density and mass of the hammers
necessary to overcome the inertia and stiffness of those soundboards. Oh,
yes. You might also take a look at their scaling. That may not have improved
much either.

Regards,

Del