Private post

[John Hartman]

Erwinspiano@aol.com wrote:
>   Hi John
>   I just looked at your web site. Very nicely done. I like the format 
> and the clarity. What a beautiful Mason & Hamlin grand. You guys on the 
> other coast sure see way more unique Mason & Stwys than we do out here 
> in the west. We just started ours but have been so busy ... Hey I like 
> that idea of laminating beech onto the top of your blocks.

if you plan on doing this let me know and I will tell you how I do it.

>    On a different subject, the bottom of a B board always has  the "tone 
> pulsator" bar that encompasses 3 to 5 ribs depending on the age of the 
> piano. What is it that this is really supposed to accomplish. I've heard 
> a variety of opinions on this & I'm sure that Del & Ron would think for 
> sure it's useless & should be replaced with a cut-off bar. I'm not sure 
> it's needed & wondered if just making longer full height ribs wouldn't 
> be just as good. Your thoughts?

Dale,

I did a cut-off bar on a B once and I can say it sounded fine.  But it 
didn't sound any better than the old arraignment. If I were building new 
pianos under my name I would consider a cut off bar but since people pay 
me to restore their Steinways I am going to stick to this feature.

I really can't buy the idea that the pulsator is just a gimmick. I doubt 
that any piano buyers are aware that it is there. I think it is a 
general rule that anything that requires the client to bend over to see 
is not a not there to impress them. Isn't the patent number on the side 
facing the board? It probably was a solution to a problem (the same one 
the cut-off bar addresses) and it seems to work O.K.. There are lots of 
other things we can do to improve the quality and durability of the 
Steinways we work on that are less destructive and easier to do. Not 
least of which is focusing on quality. I see a lot of "re-built" 
Steinways and God knows we need quality.

In the years I have been doing this job I have done my share of 
experiments. And I have learned plenty from them; mostly about how 
foolish I was to think I could improve on piano evolution. When you 
improve one thing it usually degrades something else. One lesson I have 
learned is that it is better to know how these pianos work than how they 
don't work. So I now spend most of my time looking at how they are 
supposed to work, how they should sound and feel rather than focusing on 
new improvements. This leads to discoveries that are truly useful if not 
as glamorous as some of the improvements around that look as out of 
place as modern graffiti on the Parthenon .

I guess I'm just a piano conservative that way. I don't like seeing 
vinyl siding on old houses either!


John

John Hartman Pianos
[link redacted at request of site owner - Jul 25, 2015]
Rebuilding Steinway and Mason & Hamlin
Grand Pianos Since 1979

Piano Technicians Journal
Journal Illustrator/Contributing Editor
[link redacted at request of site owner - Jul 25, 2015]