When is a Steinway still a Steinway

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Brekne" <Richard.Brekne@grieg.uib.no>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: November 18, 2002 8:59 AM
Subject: Re: When is a Steinway still a Steinway


> Ron Nossaman wrote:
>
> > Some more thoughts. If this is really a concern, there's always the
option
> > of reproducing what was originally there, within reason. I would at
least
> > suggest a new string scale and crowned rib set , re-calibrated as
> > necessary, with soundboard replacement. It won't make the piano look
> > different to most folks, but will minimize some of the inherent
problems.
>
> All other considerations aside, I would think that the installation of a
> non-compressioned crowned Steinway style would really turn the instrument
into
> something other then a Steinway. Personally I would have trouble accepting
the
> validity of attaching a new Steinway decal to said board, regardless of
> whatever postive structural and / or acoustic attributes it may have. The
> soundboard is perhaps as close to the core of the piano as one can get me
> thinks, changing this turns it into something other then it was... for
better
> or worse.



You raise some good points, but....

Taking this argument out to its logical conclusion, then, at what point does
the original compression-crowned soundboard cease to be a Steinway (or
whatever) compression-crowned soundboard. The curve is exponential--most of
the compression set the wood fibers are going to undergo will take place in
the first few months/years (depending on the starting moisture content and
its subsequent environmental exposure) of the pianos life. So, is it a
Steinway compression-crowned soundboard only when it still has enough
compression to maintain crown? Is it a Steinway compression-crowned
soundboard long after any semblance of compression has dissipated and
crown--along with sustain--is only a fleeting memory? It is still a Steinway
compression-crowned soundboard when this has occurred while the piano is
still on the showroom floor--and the miraculous tuning of the backscale
doesn't work?

Just wondering.

Del