[pianotech] Thubby Chipboard, was: Flagpoling

[Ron Nossaman]

On 8/10/2012 5:19 PM, Euphonious Thumpe wrote:
> Very funny, Terry.
> The reason is that as I tuned, the thought passed through my mind of
> "Gee, this thing sounds like a cheap speaker sold out of the trunk of a
> '70 Mercury in a parking lot!" (in 1978), and then I rememberd that
> those cardboardish-sounding speakers were in cheap, chipboard cabinets;
> so checked the construction of the Yammy and, sho' 'nuff, found the
> same, basic, sucking-up-sound core material.

Therefore, all Yamahas with MDF cases sound "thubby"? That would be news 
to a whole lot of folks who hear otherwise, including me.


>Just go read some
> historical literature on piano construction from its "Golden Age" of
> fierce competition (1880-1915) and you'll find manufacturers stating
> quite bluntly (to each other-not for marketing purposes) that choice of
> woods, including veneers,
> was made with the intent of losing as little vibratory energy to heat
> transduction as possible. (Rosewood, for example, was not just chosen
> for its looks.)

And as usual, intent without physical basis of reality is considerably 
more common than is reality. I often hear the phrase "it just stands to 
reason" associated with these flights of fantasy and delusion. That 
phrase, and the word "simply" used in an explanation, are usually a good 
indication that what follows is reality lite. While you refrained from 
using these (thank you), quoting "Golden Age" manufacturers' blunt 
speculations isn't any better validation of truth.

I sat through one of the last classes given by Roger Weisensteiner. In 
the course of the class, he delivered the most comprehensive and awe 
inspiring collection of piano mythology, cliches, and outright nonsense 
that I've EVER heard in such a condensed, thorough, and relentless form. 
I don't think he missed a single one that I'd heard in my years in the 
business, and he had a number of them that were new to me but similarly 
bizarre. It was a consummate masterpiece of disinformation and fuzzy 
thinking, and I've wished many times since that I had a video of that 
amazing class.

More recently, I'm told that the little beveled cap on top of the 
soundboard on the treble end of the belly rail is to wedge the 
soundboard perimeter in and maintain crown in the last octave! Right, as 
another manufacturer's rim tensioning device retains crown in the whole 
piano (through the life of the piano) by preventing the rim from 
spreading and dropping the arch of the ribs.

Oddly, neither had anything to say about mice.

Ron N