[CAUT] Ted Sambell / Glenn Gould

[Scott E Thile]

Oops, my mistake, our piano is not CD319, it's CD369! I thought something
was not lining up and double checked. Gould's CD318 likely started life out
with Teflon, right? Our CD369 has nice Renner parts in it (late '80s
vintage).

Sorry for any confusion..... Scott, Murray State

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott E Thile [mailto:scott.thile at murraystate.edu] 
> Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 11:01 AM
> To: 'College and University Technicians'
> Subject: RE: [CAUT] Ted Sambell / Glenn Gould
> 
> Mark, Thanks so much for this information from Ted. It is priceless! 
> 
> One interesting note-- We have CD319 here at Murray State. It 
> is one of the finest Ds I've worked on. Among it's many 
> charms it has a Kluge made ivory keyboard. Most everyone who 
> has played it loves this piano, and so do I. 
> 
> Thankfully I have not noticed that CD319 has the abrupt let 
> off Ted mentions was the case with Gould's famous CD318. Ours 
> is completely original, at least in terms of action parts and 
> touch weight. It has a nice light feel to it, weighing in at 
> just shy of 50 grams in the midsection. It is also very 
> expressive and even. 
> 
> Right now this piano in desperate need of restringing the top 
> two sections and is getting close to needing hammers and S&F, 
> otherwise it's an amazing instrument. Hopefully I can attend 
> to at least the partial restringing this summer.
> 
> Thanks again for the inside scoop Mark. I will treasure this 
> information, and I have several pianist friends that will be 
> completely fascinated with it!
> 
> Scott
> 
> Scott E. Thile
> Piano-Instrument Tech
> ---------------------
> Dept. of Music, Murray State University
> 504 Fine Arts Building, Murray, KY 42071 
> http://campus.murraystate.edu/staff/scott.thile/index.html
> mailto:scott.thile at murraystate.edu
> My Faith: 
> http://campus.murraystate.edu/staff/scott.thile/Christian/index.html
> Ministry: http://www.radioministries.org/ 
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> 	From: caut-bounces at ptg.org 
> [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Mark Cramer
> 	Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 8:49 AM
> 	To: CAUT
> 	Subject: [CAUT] Ted Sambell / Glenn Gould
> 	
> 	
> 
> 	Many of us know and love Ted Sambell as a mentor, 
> friend and colleague, as founder of the piano technology 
> course at George Brown College (now the program at UWO) and 
> longtime chief technician at the Banff Centre for the Arts.
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	What some may not know, is that for many years Ted 
> Sambell was Glenn Gould's technician of choice. 
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	Ted first tuned for Glenn when the performer was just 
> 18 years old. He also tuned for him on one of the very last 
> performances of his career, and entirely throughout his 
> performance years at the Stratford Festival.
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	And Ted was in fact the technician flown to New York on 
> several hours notice, the evening before the recording of 
> "Two and Three Part Inventions. "
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	According to Ted, CD318 was the instrument used, but 
> prior to it being dropped and the plate being replaced.   
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	I was interested in the discussions Michelle prompted 
> regarding this well-known recording, but hesitant to chime in 
> for Ted. 
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	However, as Ted spent the last week here with Cheryl 
> and I on his way home from PNWC, I thought I'd get him to 
> refresh my memory regarding the facts of this recording, and 
> ask his blessing to share them, for your interest:
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	Apparently the demands Glenn was making regarding this 
> piano were not quite as bizarre as we imagine. 
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	Ted informed me the onset of escapement in CD318 was 
> very abrupt. Steinway turned out many actions like that 
> during those years, and we've all experienced them: 
> attempting to control pianissimo, the escapement can actually 
> halt key travel mid-stroke!
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	So rather than trying to emulate a harpsichord, Glenn 
> simply couldn't tolerate fighting the mechanism. He asked Ted 
> to reduce key-dip until escapement was pretty much at the end 
> of keystroke. (Does 19/64" sound right? Sorry, I'm a child of 
> the metric system)
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	Anyhow, as Ted points out, with the action back in the 
> piano, he could've kept the shallow dip and merely raised the 
> hammer-line. But that brought the nasty bump back into the 
> keystroke, and Glenn couldn't accept it.
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	(If you haven't worked with actions of this vintage, 
> try holding a group of hammers at rest while pressing on the 
> keys, like a backcheck-clearance test. Gently allow the 
> hammers upward until the jacks can barely force their way out 
> from under the knuckle. The sensation at the key will give 
> you an accurate idea of what Gould was up against) 
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	So Ted made his recommendations, but Glenn rather 
> enjoyed the bobbling effect, commenting it sounded like "hiccups."
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	I hesitate to say "and now you know the rest of the 
> story..." For that, you would have to contact Ted, and I'm 
> sure he'd be delighted. 
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	Ultimately, when Glenn Gould retired from concert life, 
> his manager asked Ted if he would continue as Glenn's ongoing 
> technician in Toronto. In typical humility, Ted assessed the 
> inconvenience his living in London (Ont.) might pose, and 
> offered a gracious recommendation of a Toronto area 
> technician instead.
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	Sadly we don't find mention of Ted in any of the fine 
> books on Glenn Gould's life, nor in the recording credits. 
> What we do have though, is the man himself, and any visit 
> with Ted is sure to bring humble yet devoted anecdotes of 
> this remarkable artist/technician relationship to light.
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	For technicians in Canada, Ted is our "national treasure!"
> 
> 	 
> 
> 	Best regards
> 
> 	Mark Cramer,
> 
> 	Brandon University
> 
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> 	Ted, Cheryl & Bluthner #105416
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