As we all know, the color of the sound of any given string is largely in part due to the harmonics and/or partials coming from that string. This is even more so for bass strings because they produce more harmonics/partials. ANY covering is going to block some of those upper frequencies. The thinner or more acoustically transparent the covering the less blockage, but there will always be some. It's unavoidable. The reply of "not significantly" is probably good enough provided the covering is reasonably acoustically transparent and the person who is going to have to live with the results is not an audiophile. I can hear the difference, but then I have 20 years of recording studio experience. Most of your customers either won't notice or won't care. And like the test mentioned in one of the other replies indicated, most who did notice a difference in blindfolded listening tests couldn't tell whether the cover was on or off, only that there was a difference. In other words the change was "not significant" enough to their ears for them to have an opinion one way or the other. You probably don't want to leave one on for a performance however. Or when you're voicing hammers. In fact, you may want to consider voicing a little on the bright side if you know that a string cover is going to be used. -- Geoff Sykes -- Assoc. Los Angeles -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Wally Scherer Sent: Monday, October 10, 2005 9:49 AM To: pt Subject: Do string covers affect tone? When asked by customers if a string cover will affect the tone, I usually reply, "not significantly". However, I just ran across this post on the Piano World's forum, which I am sharing for informational purposes. Here it is: ----------------------------------------------------- Yes it does change the sound. I have gone back and forth between using the cover and leaving it off. For me it changed the sound in an unexpected way. I knew that it would make the upper part of the scale more mellow but I didn't know it would have such a dramatic effect on the bass. After all, bass frequencies penetrate almost anything. With the cover on, my Walter seems to have a lot less punch in the bass. My theory about this is that higher harmonics are responsible for much of the perceived "attack" and percussiveness of the bass notes. The heavy wool flannel of the Edwards cover filters these higher frequency overtones to a significant degree and that changes the character of the bass notes. I like the cover and I make sure it is on when the humidity spikes up. Often I appreciate the attenuated high frequencies when my ears are tired. But when I really want to hear my instrument at its best, particularly the bass, I take the darn thing off. The bass won't growl on my piano with the cover on. ------------------------------------------------------ Wallace T. Scherer, Piano Technician, Music Educator Piano Tuning & Repairs, Piano Lessons, Edwards String Covers P.O. Box 4121, Lantana, Florida, 33465 Phone: 561-432-4121 Web page: http://www.angelfire.com/biz6/afinetune __________________________________ Yahoo! Music Unlimited Access over 1 million songs. Try it free. http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/ _______________________________________________ pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives
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