Real Customizing of a piano

[David Love]

To get back to Fenton's original question I think the difficulty in claiming
that we can identify a "Steinway" sound is that we don't really have the
double blind study with a variety of pianos in various states to demonstrate
whether we really can or can't.  I find Steinway pianos producing all sorts
of variety of tone depending for the most part on the condition of the board
and also the type and/or condition of the hammers.  I've pulled off hard
pressed hammers for customers who claimed that it didn't produce a
"Steinway" sound.  I've also encountered soundboard responses that defy any
maker's identity.  It's also true that customer's identification of and
requests for the "Steinway" sound are as varied as the tone that the pianos
actually produce under various conditions.  

We may have a mental concept of what a Steinway sound is and shoot for that
accepting the best we can get depending on what the state of affairs is with
the piano in general.  I would presume that concept is taken from what we
liked the best (which may vary from tech to tech) and so aim for that as
some model.  Even then, the model we conceive of is fleeting and changes as
soon as we begin to recognize just what any particular piano might or might
not deliver.  I think that if someone were to line up 30 Steinways from
their customer base and, not knowing that they were all Steinway, was asked
to identify the maker of each one, the odds of them saying Steinway 30 times
would be somewhere between slim and none--and Slim's on vacation as the
saying goes.  At least that's my hypothesis.  Now if someone wants to set up
a double blind study to test that hypothesis, I'll be happy to put in a good
word on the grant proposal.

As Ron suggests, what's great in all this is the idea of better control over
outcomes (and nuances), targeting a very specific tonal model, and choosing
a consistent set of components to achieve that on a consistent basis.  For
me, scale and soundboard design issues are really the most interesting thing
happening in piano technology right now with the greatest potential for
redefining how we look at the instrument itself.   

David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net 
www.davidlovepianos.com

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2008 12:19 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Real Customizing of a piano



> Just wait until my 6'4" Knabe is done with a modified (Steinway like
scale)
> and a bunch of other changes.  A III or Knabe?  Only the decal knows for
> sure.  
> 
> David Love


There's a 5'8" or thereabouts Knabe player in my shop waiting 
for me to finish the school related projects and get back to 
it, that so far, with the old thoroughly worn out action, has 
a sound I think any new M would be proud of. This is just way 
cool stuff.
Ron N