Real Customizing of a piano

[Alan Forsyth]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: alan forsyth 
To: Pianotech List 
Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2008 10:42 PM
Subject: Re: Real Customizing of a piano


My, my, you guys grow more cynical with age. So where can I get a hold of these wonderful decals?

Gerry Attrick


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ron Nossaman 
  To: Pianotech List 
  Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2008 4:29 PM
  Subject: Re: Real Customizing of a piano




  >   Sooo, what makes a Steinway sound like a Steinway? 

  What David Love said, most particularly the fall board decal.


  >Did it 
  > Usta-B a Steinway, or is it still? I think that it still very much is, 
  > more of the original timbre and tone remains than is replaced.
  > Even the rim and plate are changed, what with treble dams and aliquot 
  > and duplex mods, plate mounting, etc, etc. It seems that the design of 
  > everything can be changed, and we still have the wonderful Steinway.

  This is precisely why the decal is so important. These 
  modifications are done to any piano to improve it's sound and 
  eliminate as many design problems as we can. The result is a 
  cleaner richer sound. Since the occasional Steinway through 
  the years has been able to produce a lovely rich sound, 
  compared to the average piano, good tone is automatically and 
  forevermore connected with the hallowed name. With the right 
  fall board decal in place, good piano tone is far more likely 
  to be perceived than without it, however wonderful the 
  instrument of less than Royal blood sounds, or however pitiful 
  the Steinway sounds. That's an unfortunate fact that has been 
  demonstrated many times. Carefully reproducing the low bass 
  with the 0.067" core wire and utter lack of fundamental, the 
  painfully apparent bass tenor crossover, with low tenor honk, 
  the attack distortion in the killer octave, which charmingly 
  migrates up and down scale with seasonal changes, the 
  squalling tuned front duplex, and the ever popular high treble 
  dink, will get you the authentic Steinway sound. Changing a 
  few things to produce a low bass with some fundamental, an 
  aurally transparent crossover without honk, a clean clear 
  killer octave with no duplex noises, and a treble with a 
  couple of seconds or more of ring time will also get you the 
  vastly different authentic Steinway sound, but only with the 
  decal. A very similar tone quality in a piano lacking this 
  decal won't.

  Is it still a Steinway after making these changes? I certainly 
  hope not, or we've wasted considerable time and money trying 
  to make them better.

  Ron N

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