Unusual Grand String Termination

[Farrell]

"BTW, how was ease of tuning compared to the 1098?"

Ha! Oh, you are such a joker! I suspect the 1098 still has a lock on its
reputation. I did not tune the Everett, just inspected it and told the guy
it would likely cost at least $15,000 to make it work, more if he wanted it
to work well. He asked me if I would cart the carcass out of his home. I
said yes. It has some nice turned legs and a lyre that might look nice on my
legless and lyreless Bechstein!

Del wrote me a note saying that this Everett might make an interesting
redesign, since he is pursuing the small piano. I wonder though, about the
plate. It is a three-section plate, rather than a four section. Again, I
know that "good small pianos have four sections" and "cheap small pianos
have three sections". Or do I. Is there anything to the four sections beyond
just making the whole plate assembly a little bit stronger - like having an
extra frame member or a bit thicker rim might? I often look at a piano with
a three section plate and immediately say to myself "oh, this is kind of a
cheap one, likely not great rebuilding potential."

Do you find yourself discriminating against the three-section plate (based
on that characteristic alone - I realize that often the three section plate
is accompanied with no framing, thin rim, and the name Brambach stamped on
the plate).

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 11:17 PM
Subject: Re: Unusual Grand String Termination


> >I inspected a 1903 Everett grand piano the other day with unusual string
> >terminations. The upper treble has a capo, but the tenor and bass have
thick
> >pressure bars, much like on the Steinway 1098 Studio. What's the deal
with a
> >setup like this? Does it work as well as agraffes? Can I assume it was a
> >cost-cutting design?
>
> Since you didn't get a whole lot of replies here...
>
> I'd guess cost cutting. Is it any better than agraffes? For maintaining
> string spacing, no. As a clean and efficient termination, I haven't been
> able to detect any real difference in termination quality between vertical
> pianos with pressure bars, and those with agraffes in the tenor. At least
I
> couldn't detect any difference I could attribute to termination quality.
> Could you?
>
> BTW, how was ease of tuning compared to the 1098?
>
>
> Ron N