[CAUT] more problems with the D

[David Love]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Lack of focus may mean that there is a lot of leakage through the
agraffes and/or capo bar.  This is not unusual on Steinways.  I recently
had a D redone for me by Del Fandrich that had very similar problems.
Modifications of the counterbearing area both in the capo and agraffe
sections and new bridge surface/cap really helped to focus the sound by
eliminating a lot of the noise.   A modified soundboard design with
cutoff bar also helped to eliminate the distortion that is sometimes
present in the middle section and increase the sustain through the upper
end of the piano.   The piano has incredible focus, and depth and can be
made quite "bright", if you want it, without getting buzzy.   If your
piano has poor terminations then focus will be a problem and it will be
exacerbated by harder or brighter sound.  While the real fix may be more
involved than you are able to go without some major surgery, you might
be able to at least temporarily address the problems by seating at the
bridge, and capo-though my experience is that it will not last.   A
slightly softer hammer will help to reduce the noise but, as you have
seen, at the price of perceived power.  You can bring the brightness
back with a couple small drops of acetone keytop solution (I use 1
keytop to 12-16 oz of acetone, many people use a stronger solution of
8oz but I prefer a weaker one)/  The focus, but the focus problem is a
bigger one.  
 
If the terminations are good, then lack of focus can mean that the
hammers just aren't hard enough or shaped properly or fitted properly to
the strings.  I would, of course, check those along with string seating
first.
 
For design issues that address these problems check Del Fandrich or Ron
Nossaman's posts on the subject.    In my opinion, that's the state of
the art.  
 
David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net 
-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Wimblees@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 2:45 PM
To: caut@ptg.org
Subject: [CAUT] more problems with the D
 
Two problems with the D. (Yes the same one)
 
First, I misinterpreted the faculty's comments. It wasn't "brassy" as
such, as much as it lacked focus. I perceived this to mean to bright. So
I voiced it down. But now he says it has lost it's power. He says the
hammers will never come back. Is he right, or is there a way to get the
power back on without them becoming too brassy?
 
The other problem, which I also misunderstood, is a noisy action. He
said something about it when he complained about uneven voicing with the
soft pedal on, but I missed his comments. I compared the action noise
with that of the other D, and there does seem to be a little more action
noise. I've narrowed it down to when the hammer returns, kind a of a
mild knocking sound. I tried voicing up the wippen cushion, but that
didn't do anything. Could it be that the back under key felt is too
hard? Would that solve the noisy action? (remember, this piano is less
than 2 years old. 
 
Wim 
Willem Blees, RPT
Piano tuner/technician
School of Music
University of Alabama

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/21/f4/85/08/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--