Thank you Joe for all your comments and sugestions! First of all what I called a double plate maybe is not the correct term, but it is the first piano that I encounter that has this feature: it has a plate that is like a regular plate in the front starting in the bottom of the pinblock and continues down the floor to the back of the piano up to the back of the pinblock (it weights a ton!!!), but there are no sympathetic strings as you mention, it is just a support job. Another interesting feature of this plate that I never seen nor heard before is that the soundboard is suspended to the plate by bolts! I will also mention that the soundboard is very little, it doesn't cover the whole size of the cage. I'll gladly send pictures, but I don't know how to upload them. I've tried in the past and didn't work. I'll try anyway! Second, I thought about the tension that you mention and that's why I asked for help from you experts. I've restrung many pianos, but never this old! The thing is that it is in VERY good shape and the scale that it had with these thickness and tension was tuned at 440! which amused me... Third I don't think I'll have the time to send you the speaking lenghts because I'm working against the clock... I'll try what Patrik Draine suggested that I should contact Stainway for advice. I made a mistake: there is no 17 1/2, so there is a gap from 16 1/2 to 18... Thanks again, Rafael Huberman On 26/08/2009, at 01:09 p.m., Joseph Garrett wrote: All, One thing that I forgot to mention with my previous post: Steinway, during that time did not have adequate piano wire, just like the rest of the piano world. It was a bit better than the Iron Wire of earlier decades, but still sub-standard compared to our modern wires. Hence, the darned stuff was softer and the scale was a much lower tension average. A wire size of, for example, #13 had a far lower breaking strength than our modern size #13. The overall structure of the piano was not built for the higher tensions even of the 1890's! All this boils down to is that great caution should be used when restringing the early instruments. A proper Scale Evaluation with several Special Parameters used to assure that the very OLD structure will not be compromised. (i.e. make sure the darned thing won't Self-Destruct!!) Regards, Joe Joe Garrett, R.P.T. (Oregon) Captain, Tool Police Squares R I
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