[CAUT] Accujust

[David Ilvedson]

The only unpleasant sounds I've heard from Baldwin grands, the big ones, come from the lack of felt below the strings in front of the tuning pins...

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044

----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Jeff Tanner" <tannertuner at bellsouth.net>
To: caut at ptg.org
Received: 5/9/2009 12:16:12 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Accujust



>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: <pmctooner at cfl.rr.com>
>To: <caut at ptg.org>
>Sent: Saturday, May 09, 2009 9:22 AM
>Subject: [CAUT] (no subject)


>> To get back to the original complaint of "plate ringing" in the Baldwin 
>> piano, I presume the issue is with the SD10.
>> Respectfully submitted,
>> P McCutcheon, former technician to the design engineer of the SD and SF10 
>> pianos at Baldwin.


>No. I've observed it in every Accujust Baldwin I've ever tuned.  At the 
>university, we had 15 Ls and 3 SF-10s.  The L's had it as much as the SFs. 
>In fact, I think I described earlier that I did my audition tuning on one of 
>the L's there and was particularly stricken by all the non-musical noise I 
>heard.  Up until then, my experience with the Accujust Baldwins was quite 
>limited.  My church has an SD-10, and I have one other customer with one as 
>well. I did tune another SD-10 (new at the time) for a concert about 12 
>years ago (that piano was not a good example for Baldwin).  Maybe 20 years 
>ago I tuned an SF-10 in a church.  I found it pretty offensive.  Other than 
>that, my experience is with an R or two.  I believe all my other Baldwin 
>grands predate Accujust.  We just don't see that many of the artist series 
>Baldwins.  Yamaha and Kawai began really cutting into their market beginning 
>about the time the Accujust was implemented.

>I just went over to our church and experimented a little.  I only had a few 
>minutes, so I didn't mute out the rear segment.  But I muted as many as I 
>could with my hands while playing notes at different volumes.  I muted 
>different sections but couldn't mute them all. What I hear is NOT 
>sympathetic vibrations from the non speaking lengths - I hear that as well, 
>but this is IN ADDITION to the ringing backlengths.  I rapped on the plate 
>with my knuckles, and there it was.  I rapped on top of the hitch pins, and 
>the sound was the same as rapping directly on the plate.  Sounds similar to 
>the word "clock" and it echoes (differently from the singing backlengths - 
>it is much lower in pitch).  It is the sound I hear with every hammer 
>strike, especially in the treble section. At least it may be more noticeable 
>there as the pitch of the strings moves away from the pitch of the plate 
>ring. I've not paid as much attention to it in the tenor or bass, probably 
>because it isn't as annoying there.  But it may be there. It is different 
>from the percussive hammerstrike you hear from other pianos.  Yes, the plate 
>struts ring, but at a different pitch than what I'm hearing.  I tried 
>dampening the struts  near where I was playing the notes. The plate ring 
>remained.  I tried dampening the capo bar.  That didn't stop it either.  It 
>is not a sympathetic vibration.  It is the sound of the hammerstrike being 
>transferred to the plate.  In fact, the slightest action noise is amplif..., 
>uh, er, transduced? and echoes loudly.  The key hitting the keybed echoes 
>loudly, but striking the key without allowing it to hit bottom still 
>produces the plate resonant noise that is different.

>No, I don't have the equipment that would be needed to record it.  When it 
>comes to technology, the newest recording equipment I have still uses 
>cassette tape and I don't have the equipment necessary to convert analog 
>signal to digital.  Life happened a few years ago and I had to stop spending 
>money on those kinds of luxuries.

>I was merely throwing out the idea that it makes the most sense to me that 
>the percussive strike is being transferred through the accujust hitch pins, 
>which allow more free vibration at the point of contact with the strings 
>than if the strings were pinched to the plate.  Just like grunting the stob.

>Jeff