yamaha rebuild

[David Love]

I like that "a vintage 1977", makes me feel old :-)
  
As Ron mentioned, these assessments really need to be made at the piano and
in this case with samples and with the customer's own tonal goals and
attitudes in mind.  That being said, as soundboards get weaker, they get
louder and sustain diminishes (unless they turn to stone and get stiffer and
therefore quieter with better sustain--haven't met that one yet though).  So
likely the hammer needed won't have to be as hard or heavy (or both) as the
original in order to generate the same volume.  Also, louder at attack, in
this case, means diminished perception of the length of the sustain phase.
I'm not sure that the actual measured sustain will diminish as the rate at
which the board dissipates energy is not influenced by the hammer
necessarily.  However, one of the essential goals in setting up the "voice"
of the piano is to find the best balance between the attack envelope and
sustain phase.  On older boards, that usually means reducing the level of
the attack, i.e. somewhat softer and/or lighter hammer.  

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 Conrad Hoffsommer
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 8:15 AM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: yamaha rebuild

On 10/23/08, David Love <davidlovepianos at comcast.net> wrote:
> I've found those older blocks don't
> hold up that well and since replacing the block isn't that big a deal, I'd
> probably do it.  I'd be careful about hammer selection as the board is
> likely much weaker than it was at the outset and may not tolerate as hard
a
> hammer as the original.


I'm considering restringing w/pinblock  (actually: pinblock -
necessitating restringing) on a 1977 vintage C7. Should I consider
"leaner" hammers for it, too?   The thing does _NOT_ lack for volume.


-- 
Conrad Hoffsommer, RPT
Luther College
Decorah, IA