[CAUT] Stuart & Son on NPR

[Ed Sutton]

That's why I wrote "As I recall." I was uncertain of the exact details 
anymore. Also, as I recall, they said the partial retrofit was done that way 
because the structure of the Baldwin didn't allow the agraffes to fit all 
the way across the bridge. But that may have been my misunderstanding or 
their miscommunication. They did seem to be saying that the agraffes would 
eventually be offered for retrofit installation.

On a more general note, I would comment that "longer sustain" is not 
necessarily an unlimited good thing for piano tone. Most piano music was 
written with the characteristics of piano sound in mind, and does not sound 
good on a Hammond organ. Malcolm Bilson argues, rather well, that Mozart 
cannot be played as originally intended on a modern piano, which is not to 
say he says you should not try, if that's the piano you have.

Like Malcolm, everyone should have 6 or 7 pianos to choose from.

Ed Sutton


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Sturm" <fssturm at unm.edu>
To: "College & University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2011 11:29 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Stuart & Son on NPR


> On Jan 18, 2011, at 9:20 PM, Ed Sutton wrote:
>
>> Nothing odd there. As I recall, the top several octaves were retro- 
>> fitted with phoenix agraffes. One would expect the mass of the  agraffe 
>> to increase impedence on those notes.
>
>
> My memory differs. It was a partial retrofit: went an octave to an  octave 
> and a half and stopped cold, with the remainder left original  condition. 
> The point was to make it easy to hear the difference. The  rest of the 
> display kind of overwhelmed it, with the buzz being more  about the carbon 
> board.
> Regards,
> Fred Sturm
> fssturm at unm.edu
> http://www.createculture.org/profile/FredSturm
>