1920's Wurli Grand

[Dean May]

You should tell her that you can make it better, but you can't make it sound
like a 9 foot.

 

Del Fandrich talks about improving the sound on small grands with a couple
of tricks, neither for the faint hearted. First you rescale the bass,
positioning the bass bridge as far forward as the plate will allow. You are
trying to eliminate the apron and increase the backscale length. Del has
empirically proven that aprons absorb all the lower frequencies of the
strings leaving nothing to go into the soundboard. When ordering the strings
specify the very short Jolly Loop. Or better yet, replace the hitch pins
with vertical pins that have a little grove cut around the top. The groove
allows the string to pivot more freely up and down as the string oscillates.
Make sure you use high quality bass strings- I recommend Arledge. 

 

The second thing you can do is "float" the soundboard. This involves making
a cut through the soundboard in the tail area and reinforcing the cut edge.
Alternatively, you can router a groove around the perimeter of the
soundboard in that area. Search the archives for more info here. 

 

I would recommend you hire Del as a consultant if you want to pursue either
avenue: fandrich at pianobuilders.com

 

 

Dean

Dean May             cell 812.239.3359 

PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272 

Terre Haute IN  47802

  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Brian Doepke
Sent: Friday, October 12, 2007 8:53 PM
To: 'Pianotech List'
Subject: 1920's Wurli Grand

 

I have a client who, several years ago, bought a 1920's Wurli Grand off of
e-bay.  I have been working on it regularly, tuning every 6 months so it is
now up to A440. I have also reshaped the hammers.  There are a couple slight
cracks in the soundboard.  The keys are "sloppy" compared to status of what
they should be.  I am sure that many of you have run into a similar
instrument.

 

The client now wants to talk about what can be done to bring back the "big,
rich sound" of a grand.  She wants to discuss string replacement as a way of
getting her "grand sound".

 

Is this even worthwhile?  I am afraid of doing the restringing only to have
the sound fall short of what the client wants.   Should I consider the
saying "Even if you put a dress and make-up on a pig.it's still a pig."?

 

Brian P. Doepke, (dep-kee)

R.P.T. (Registered Piano Technician)

AAA Piano Works, Inc.

Piano Tuning-Repair-Purchase Consults

260.417.1298

260.432.2043

    www.aaapianoworks.com

 

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