Steinway Sustain

[David Love]

Tony:

Comments from Antares and Newton are to the point, but I would add something 
else.  String seating in the capo secion is critical for both power and 
sustain.  You will have to address this periodically.  My suggestion is to 
take an old Steinway agraffe (7/32", it will fit perfectly in a combination 
handle).  File a groove in the middle of the long dimension on top of the 
agraffe to accomodate a single string.  Put it in the combination handle and 
from the underside of the string massage the string up against the capo bar 
on both the speaking and not speaking length.  Massage the strings down 
toward the bridge on both sides of the bridge (I prefer this to tapping).  
Then go through the leveling/fitting process again very carefully.  Cleaning 
up the contact there will make a difference.  There are other considerations 
with respect to how the hammers have been hardened.  There will be 
differences of opinion here but I think that the hammer must be hardest deep 
under the striking point graduating to softer as it goes toward the crown 
with a bit of hardening on the surface for proper attack.  If the hammer has 
been hardened by applying drops of hardener to the top of the hammer only, 
the hammer will compress too much on a firm blow resulting in too much 
contact with the string and killing sustain.  You can determine this by 
using a single needle to feel the resistance of the felt and you can hear it 
if the shows little difference in power above mf.  If the hammer is soft 
down deep then you will have to get the hardener under the crown.  At this 
point I would recommend applying the hardener from the side.  Lay the action 
on end and put five or six drops of 4:1 or 3:1 acetone/lacquer solution on 
each side of the hammer.  I don't personally like using plastic or keytop 
solutions.  I think they have a distinct and different quality.  In my 
experience it doesn't get the hammer hard enough without totally destroying 
resilience.  Some may disagree with me here.  There is a trade off, as many 
have mentioned, with power/sustain.  But a balance can generally be found.  
Of course if the problem is in the board then you have other problems.  I 
think that generally the potential of that section often dictates what you 
can do with the rest of the piano.  Sometimes you just can't get as much as 
you would like for structural reasons.  In that case, you have to accept the 
pianos character and voice the whole thing accordingly with emphasis on 
balance rather than a preconceived notion of what it ought to sound like.  
Not every piano is fit for concerto work.

David Love

>From: "Tony Caught" <caute@optusnet.com.au>
>Reply-To: pianotech@ptg.org
>To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
>Subject: Steinway Sustain
>Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2001 17:34:05 +0930
>
>Hi List,
>
>There are some of you out there that would know the answer to this problem. 
>Need help.
>
>Steinway D model, about 18 years old. This piano has always had a problem 
>in the treble from about F5 to B6.  Tone is hard and sustain is short.
>
>Over the years I have tried voicing the hammers and can balance the tone, 
>but, to the expense of the sustain, this drops of even more.
>
>Today I had a note left by the visiting European pianist,  Michael 
>Leuschner (prior to my visit) asking that I voice the treble, especially 
>between B & B. "The sound is hard and doesn't last long enough" B6 isn't 
>bad.
>
>I needled the surface area to even out the tone through this area and the 
>pianist was happy with the result (needs this area as he is playing Mozart 
>& Chopin) but, I really want to fix this problem and because I now have a 
>note from the 'teacher' I have an excuse to fix it.
>
>What is the problem ?  I have my thoughts but I only work on 1 Steinway, 
>some one must know what is causing this to happen.
>
>Regards
>
>Tony Caught ICPTG
>Australia
>caute@optusnet.com.au
>
>

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