In a piano worth $100,000's is this a good practice ?

[Tony Caught]

Hi Antares,

Tomorrow I am of an a trip 'out bush' of around 3,500 kilo tuning pianos in
schools far away. Be back in about 10 days so I shall follow this post up
then.

Weather is hot and fine. 25 C min 32 C max Humidity 75% at 9AM  60% at 3 PM
a bit sticky but not bad.

Will read through Ron's tech stuff again to refresh memory.

The first, Fazioli is supposed to be good and the second the Stuart Piano,
and in Australia also is good or great or at least different. Expensive but
are selling . Have not seen one yet.

http://www.fazioli.com/
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/department/fmu/stuart1.html

With the wife away dark thoughts are not allowed.

Back to you soon

Tony


----- Original Message -----
From: antares <antares@EURONET.NL>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2001 7:06 AM
Subject: In a piano worth $100,000's is this a good practice ?


> > Hi Antares,
>
> Hi Tony,
> >
> > We were all talking about the 'killer octave' on the list a few weeks
ago
> > Steinways of course was the major piano concerned.
>
> of course yes...
>
> > All the methods of regulating, hammer realigning & changing etc came up
as
> > the method of fixing the problem. And of course changing the soundboard.
> >
> > Del is of the opinion that the soundboard looses its stiffness in
certain
> > areas and that that is the actual problem that has to be overcome.
> >
> > We talked about loading the offending section with springs as being a
> > successful solution to this problem and many concur that this is one way
to
> > go.
>
>
> Yeah, I now remember the conversation... I read it.
> >
> > Me, I am waiting to get permission to try out these experiments on a
> > Steinway D. I want to record the entire process starting with the
partial's
> > magnitude of all notes in the area before any work is done to see if I
can
> > located by some other method what I can hear, isolate the problem then
> > record the differences as springs are added etc.
>
> That is very interesting, because the problem is a real pain in the neck.
> I just had a long walk (My wife is off to the US, she is American you
know)
> through a very quiet park, and I had deep thoughts about what a waste it
is
> indeed to sort of throw away the most expensive concert piano in the world
> and just replace it with the next one. So it would be great if somebody
> tried to find a solution for this.
> >
> > The original possible cause of this problem can I believe be tied into
your
> > saying 'new is better'. The compression on the original boards
deteriorates
> > the board faster in the treble than the mid or bass section because of
the
> > shorter  width of the board in that area.
>
> Today I happened to visit the website of Ron Overs :
>
> http://www.overspianos.com.au
>
> I must say that I am rather impressed with his knowledge.
> If you're interested, go to 'Technical Stuff' and scroll down till you
come
> to
> 'Overs' APTTA 1998 convention lecture'
>
> He really tells very much about the 'killer octave' and his experiments
for
> improvements.
> I wonder what you guys think about it? (at least I am in awe...)
>
>
> >
> > As you say the bass and mid sections are good but the upper treble
sucks.
>
> Like a huge duck!  (:<(        -------->      (;>))
>
> > Seem to me that the board is over compressed to begin with and though
this
> > may give a fantastic tone to begin with, it will deteriorate very
rapidly
> > with time.  In a piano worth $100,000's is this a good practice ?
>
> It is a shame, and the fact that they are so arrogant, in general, makes
it
> even worse. But we have no choice, tradition is hard to erase.
> Why though, does Yamaha not have this problem? at least not as bad?
> And do you know of other older Concert grands that have stayed better? and
> are there more Australian piano builders besides Ron Overs?
>
> btw....What's da weather like in your place?
>
> Antares,
>
> Amsterdam, Holland
>
> 'Where music is, no harm can be'
>
>