[pianotech] re design

[Delwin D Fandrich]

  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Gene Nelson
Sent: February 02, 2009 7:15 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] re design


 


Of course this can be done. The questions are simply how and what will it cost? 
 
<< The how is where I will need some hlep. Design could easily take advantage of
the struts as well as the plate where the existing agraffes are mounted so I
think that strength is not really an issue so much as forming, fitting correctly
attaching and choosing the best material as well as making it look like it
belongs. The existing agraffes already define the string termination locations.
Dave Rubenstein's new 8' piano has half agraffes under capo for all notes - this
is similar to what I am imagining for the top section.
 
But I do have to ask why you want larger hammers in the high treble? Do you
really like that thuddy, hammer knocking sound that simply overpowers any
musical tone that might otherwise be present? If so, there might be other ways
of getting it.
 
<<The typical hammer for note 88 with agraffe is small compared with the normal
in my experience. I do not necessarily want a larger than normal hammer - but at
least normal - probably an Isaac hammer or equiv. I believe that the typical
agraffe hammers at the top note/s are small because of strike point issues?
Hammer hitting agraffe/plate so they get reduced in size? No, I do not like
thuddy/knocking sound up there. 
That said, I have experimented with larger - or should I say heavier hammers in
the high treble with very good results. They just need to be a bit harder. I
have an idea that more hammer mass up there will allow the strike point to be
lengthened slightly but I cannot prove it just yet.

You might want to study this one a bit more. Heavy (and by extension,
necessarily hard) hammers in the high treble tend to aggravate string breakage.
And for no good reason. 
 
The new "normal" is not the traditional "normal." Modern hammers do tend to be
considerably larger and more massive than their predecessors. Scaled properly,
and with a good soundboard design, large, heavy hammers in the high treble are
neither necessary nor desirable.
 

<< This HD has had a custom RC board installed with laminated ribs and custom
bridge with redesigned scale and a big cutoff bar and fish. The origianl bridge
agraffes have been deleted from the redesign. Some surgery must be done on the
plate to accomodate the new bridge shape in the killer octave area before I can
assemble it. I really believe that the redesigned scale will be superior but I
cannot do any measuremnts just yet. 
Trouble is that the belly/bridge work was done well over 20 years ago and I will
need to try to figure out what the designer/s had in mind. It was a "piano
builders" project that was shelved and forgotten about and I took over recently.
Sound familiar?

Oh, yes, there was a day when I was familiar with the piano but my memory no
longer extends that far back.
 

Third, a lot of the developmental and experimental work I've done over the years
has been based on the nagging question of "why not?" So that one I can readily
understand and it may well outweigh questions one and two.
 
<<It does outweigh the other questions. 
Also, I will never know what the piano sounded like prior to teardown - do not
care. As the rim and bracing are softwoods I imagine it was similar to the
Bosendorfer. 
Gene

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