[pianotech] Tone Building

[John Delacour]

At 21:20 +0930 30/05/2011, you wrote:

>Have a customer with a 7'4" grand that is fairly new and though tone 
>is OK the sustain is good and the volume is good, can't overdrive 
>the bass my customer asked me to give the piano a  cleaner sound. 
>Rich in colour but maybe with less initial clutter.

As Will says, you first need to analyse the strings, which I can do 
for you for nothing if you write me off list to find out what I need. 
If you approach the problem starting with the hammers, you are 
working blind and, by treating the hammers to try and get power and 
clarity you may end up with something worse than you started with. 
Once you have a well-designed and well-made set of strings on the 
thing you can consider what to do with the hammers.  When I had the 
showroom and sold new Yamaha and Kawai grands, the first thing I did 
when they were delivered was throw out the bass strings and make new 
for them.  I would have done the same if I'd been a Steinway dealer.

JD