Narrow vs. Stretch

[Jon Page]

At 07:57 PM 3/19/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>I had lots of time and quiet today to narrowly tune a Baldwin L. I for one
>like to open the 'window' as far as it will go. I was trying to hear
>"bloom".<snip>
>
>Can someone describe 'bloom' to me?
>
>I really want to hear this.
>
>Phil


Phil,
Bloom in not a product of tuning, it is the production of the tonal 
spectrum by the
hammer. Hammers need to be voiced properly to produce this unfolding of tone.
A dead or poor sounding board will not allow its development.

The best I can describe bloom is: Strike a note and allow it to sustain. If 
the tone
simply decays, there is no bloom. If the sound ethereally lifts and expands 
(partials)
and wafts through the air as the tone slowly decays then you have bloom.

A few times, I have heard what I can only describe as a low harmonic bloom 
in this tonal wash.
Perhaps it was caused be the bass string sympathetically vibrating through 
the dampers.

Regards,

Jon Page,   piano technician
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass.
mailto:jonpage@attbi.com
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