soundboard

[David Renaud]

Someone asked..........

If you had the choice : you can get a brand new
Steinway D and you can get a hundred year old Steinway
D...
----------------------------------------------------
New Steinway D story.


   Delivered new to a conservatory in Montreal,
 Complaints, led eventually to Steinway sending
somebody. They are still not happy. Two years
into this they give it away to a satellite
conservatory
in Hull, Quebec....rejected.  

   Marcel from Quebec city came to work on it for a
day. What a great technician. Seat string, level, 
hammer mating, voicing, he did a wonderful job.
Showed me those string couplers....pitch lock on the
duplex side to eliminate false beats, improve tone
and tune the duplex to the second partial.
Great technician, showed me some great stuff, piano
sounds much better.

   A few days later....buzz buzz on a note, it goes
away. Another day appears on a different note, Bad
buzz. There had been complains about buzzes...they
seem to come and go.

   I looked, and looked, and looked.

   Not the damp chaser, not a paper clip or something 
on the board......not a loose screw in the action, 
damper guide rail.....and looked, and looked.

   When all else is eliminated, what remains must 
be true.

   Reaching deep in the cavity with a rubber mute 
under the piano, at the soundboard rim at the belly
rail..... a good reach in a narrow space on this piano

...crunch crunch crunch like giant corn flakes.
Glass like glue. It had oozed out at that
joint when the soundboard was clamped down and
hardened in thin shards, some touching the soundboard.
I broke off shards 3, 4 inches long and one inch wide.

Still more in there I am sure, must devise some funny
mirrors, and a strong light to get a look in there.

Years of bad rep. from not cleaning up a hidden glue
joint.

  I also noticed from the move, sawdust....small wood
chips had been dislodged and moved around on the board
and behind the bass bridge ..... I believe it was not
cleaned up very well before it left production. 

  Interesting.....I only service three 9 foot
Steinway's. There are a few interesting things to note
on each of them. Things I would have not expected.
Keeping track....

   Now the one imperial bosse I am tuning.....WOW.
I want one......make that two.


                           Cheers
                           Dave Renaud 
                           RPT
                           Canada

      
                       


                  



























 

























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