Kimball Decal

[Ron Nossaman]

>
>  "This back has been processed by Kimball's exclusive Mezzo-Thermoneal
> Stabilizer to ensure unsurpassed tonal stability"  To me this comes across as
> being a load of unadulterated codswallop.  If however, the back (soundboard I
> presume) is enhanced by the aid of this special treatment, then I eat my
> words.



Basically, it was a big oven. The theory was that they could wheel a bunch of
pianos in and force a few years of seasoning into them so they wouldn't have
nearly the usual stability problems the first year or so. Unfortunately, it
didn't work as well as they might have liked. While it's possible that it may
have saved one half-semitone pitch raise the first year, it didn't save the
second one, or the three (ea.) quarter-semitone raises after that. Another big
expensive band-aid that didn't work.

Then again, wouldn't "tonal stability" be the voice of the piano instead of the
tuning? Looking at it this way, the MTS might have actually worked very well. I
always found it virtually impossible to change the way a Kimball sounded, and
they certainly didn't change spontaneously. Maybe they ought to be cooking
every piano. When they get one to sound the way they want it, they can preserve
it that way for all time. "The Baked in Tone" has a nice ring to it, don't you
think? Or is the idea half... er... well, never mind.

I did a newsletter on this one too. Suggested they convert the MTS to a
cryogenic tank to freeze the strings in situ, as it were. Wasn't it Fazioli
that was doing experiments to determine if previously frozen strings stayed in
tune longer? Hey, if it worked, they could cook the pianos for tonal stability,
and then freeze them in liquid nitrogen for tuning stability. Best of both
worlds, and the potential for a heck of a lid decal.

BTW, do you suppose chromed hammer staples work better than the garden variety?


Ron N