[pianotech] Gen-u-whine Steinway parts:OT RANT

[Ed Foote]

Hi David, I might be disagreeing somewhat, ( or just picking at nits the wine frees up...)


   The 1890-1942  vintage Steinways seem to have been held to a closer tolerance with the scale stick.  The action alignment from the key to the string is, in my experience, much more consistent on these pianos.  It is possible to have all 88 hammershanks laying near the center of the whippens while traveling straight to the string.  And all the capstan pads are centered over the capstans, to boot!  Does an action like this play better or last longer?  I don't know, but it that kind of precision is not a liability. 
       The foundation ratios, (the relationship of the capstan, balance rail pin, and whippen rail) are also more closely found near the 5.6-6.2 range, with few, that I have seen, falling in the extremes.  Contrast this to the 1960-1990 vintages where we find a surreal range of everything.  How modern machinery can produce less consistent results is beyond me, but they have found a way. 
      I don't have hard, fast data, but it seems that about one out of every seven Steinways older than 50 years has a good board. I own several, and have seen others.  On these pianos, a close examination of the bridge notching reveals craftsmanship at the highest level. Not so much on the new pianos.  The older pianos have straighter agraffes, which is disappointing in the highest degree.  Few procedures on a grand piano doom it to mediocrity faster than a string plane that is impossible to mate hammers too.  I have seen a number of them, but none from the '20's.   
   I don't think many of these things cause the older pianos to feel or sound different.  They just indicate more care in construction than the modern version.  You can see this on the chamfers put on the various blocks in the action, and the evenness of the damper wire bends.  Even the saws and bits used back then were sharper, as indicated on the fuzzy edges so often seen in todays actions. 
   The big deal is the sound. For some reason, fresh boards in 1920's pianos usually have more response than new boards in new pianos.  That may be the hide-glue case making a difference, or the additional care the boutique rebuilder applies.  I don't know. What I do know is that I am far more confident of success when rebuilding a 1920 action than I am trying to make sense of something put together in the late 1960's.  
    I think the vintage is a factor, but not as much as the general public seems to believe. 
Regards, 



Ed Foote RPT
http://www.piano-tuners.org/edfoote/index.html



-----Original Message-----
From: David Love <davidlovepianos at comcast.net>
  Gen-u-whine Steinway parts:OT RANT


This thing about 20's Steinways I don't really get.  Even if they had better
belly people back then the pianos are 100 years old now.  Who cares what
they were like in 1920.  They certainly don't resemble that now.  Every era
has produced good and bad bellies and actions with and without problems.
The attraction to that era at this point is purely a psychological one,
 
 
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