removing cross beam on a D

[Fred Sturm]

Wim,
	If it will come out, having it out for a while won't cause any problems, 
IMO (though this has been a subject of discussion before, and there were 
contrary opinions). But really she should use a Steinway L or M for Crumb. 
Crumb pieces rarely work well on D's (or B's or A's, for that matter) due 
to layout of strings and struts. Reaching to get second partials (touching 
nodes half way down the string, as you are describing) is a lot easier on a 
shorter piano. Crumb wrote at his piano in his studio. I have been told it 
was an L. (There's more discussion along these lines in the archives).
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico

--On Monday, March 1, 2004 6:19 PM -0500 Wimblees@aol.com wrote:

>
> One of our piano faculty is practicing a George Crumm piece that requires
> her to strum and pluck strings, and dampen half way with her fingers. She
> asked me if I could remove the cross beam so she can get to the strings
> easier. She said a friend of hers does this kind of music a lot, and
> remove this bar herself.
> Has anyone ever done this? What effect does it have on stability, tuning,
> stress loads, etc.? If it doesn't have any effect, why is it there?
> Wim
> Willem Blees, RPT
> Piano tuner/technician
> School of Music
> University of Alabama