> As I sat there, I wanted to investigate, does this > piano need, voicing or new hammers or a new board? My bet is the board. > Hammers have been replaced (by a previous tech) and > aren't that worn. The SB has a crack in it that is > definitely more visible during this time of the year. > Yesterday when I tuned somewhere here in the area it > was 28% rh at 71 deg. Could be a little different I > suppose from location to location. The crack itself isn't a problem, but is diagnostic indication of compression degradation of the panel. > #2. The second D, which is bothering me greatly is in > a church. It's also a 1970's model. I put all new > hammers and wippens in it replacing teflon parts and > problems about 2 years ago. I hoped for great > improvement in tone. While I got some, the piano > still lacks power terribly. I am in the process of > adding keytop/acetone which is giving some help but > still not what I want. When I pluck a string it's not > much or any different than the hammer strike. A > rocker gauge on the bridge of this piano indicates > there is downbearing. This one has a Dampp Chaser, the > univ. one doesn't. When plucking doesn't give you anything different than the hammer strike, there's not much you can do to the hammer that will make a difference. Hammers very typically get blamed for soundboard dysfunction. > Do you always check crown/downbearing a particular > way: under the board with a thread; rocker gauge on > bridge; thread from agraffe to hitch pin; Lowell gauge > or other? I used different methods, but wonder which > gives the best reading. > > Bob Hull I don't think splitting hairs in different ways tells you much here. I don't typically go looking for trouble until I hear something that indicates it's pre-existence. Then, I check crown against bearing to try to correlate the two against what I hear in what parts of the scale. A negative crown, with a negative bearing, at the same spot that the attack splatter and short sustain is happening, is a pretty good indication that voicing isn't going to fix it. It's a pretty crude yardstick, and isn't something by which you can predict tone from measurement, or put a terminal self destruct date on, but it's still useful as a fantasy damper and reality check. Ron N
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC