[CAUT] Steingraeber/Phoenix

[Fred Sturm]

On Jul 23, 2009, at 3:45 PM, Stan Kroeker wrote:

> Oh ... btw Fred,  I'm not sure the spruce soundboards at  
> Steingraeber were 4 mm thick.  Alexander, Christian and I chatted  
> briefly at the soundboard tapering station and I believe I recall  
> they said the boards are 9 mm thick, tapering to 6 mm at the edges  
> (from about 20 cm to the perimeter of the boards).  My german's not  
> too bad but I might have misunderstood them.  Or did you mean the  
> carbon-fibre board laminated with spruce veneer (for cosmetic  
> appearance)?
>
	This is what the person at the booth told me about the spruce board  
with Phoenix system - one of the pianos on display - that its board  
was 4 mm (compared to the 2 mm carbon board of the piano next to it).  
He said with the Phoenix system, no downbearing, that was all the  
thickness that was needed. Pianos with a standard bridge (and  
downbearing) would be a different matter, and presumably would have  
normal thickness board. The piano they had there might be unique, made  
purely for the purpose of comparison, so you could hear Phoenix with  
spruce and with carbon next to one another.
	What with the general state of exhaustion attending conventions, I  
could have misunderstood, but I don't think so. Also, they were saying  
that now the carbon board was less than 2 mm. 1 point something (I  
forget).
	About offering it for retrofit, I got the impression by the fact they  
had the Baldwin on display, with a partial retrofit. And by the fact  
that they did such an elaborate display, with all sorts of people from  
all over there to talk about it. Seems like a lot of effort just to  
sell ten more Steingraebers a year. I'll email and ask.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu