[CAUT] Stuart & Son on NPR

[Fred Sturm]

Hi Nick,
	Very interesting and informative post. Thanks!
	One thing this makes obvious is just how much the Hurstwood Farm/ 
Steingraeber Phoenix System owes to Stuart. Phoenix also has a zero  
downbearing system (though with the carbon fiber board), with a fine- 
threaded vertical hitch pin, notched for the string, that can be  
adjusted to a very precise degree. I don't know about the front  
termination, or the materials - would be interested to find out.  
Stuart has a fourth pedal that brings the hammers closer to the  
strings, while Phoenix does the same at the end of the shift pedal  
(after the keyboard has shifted all the way, pressing the pedal  
farther activates this feature). [BTW, that pedal was invented by  
Claude Montal. He called it the Expression Pedal, and was very proud  
of, much more so than the sostenuto pedal he invented - he wrote about  
both in the 1865 edition of his book. It didn't just raise the  
hammers, it reduced the key travel proportionally]
	It seems, though, that Stuart has taken clean termination to the nth  
degree. This has tonal consequences, and, as you say, some may like it  
while others don't. The NPR show had quotes from both sides, one  
finding it "Sunny," the other "Cold." But in any case, different from  
the norm, and, as far as I am concerned, that is a good thing. Whether  
or not it is the "ultimate answer" is not the point. There _is_ no  
ultimate answer.
Regards,
Fred Sturm
University of New Mexico
fssturm at unm.edu
On Jan 22, 2011, at 7:21 PM, Nick Croft wrote:

> I've tuned a few Stuart pianos, including one of his first which has
> been in use in the Conservatorium in Newcastle (NSW, Australia)  
> where he has
> his factory, and another in the PowerHouse Museum of Technology  
> (Sydney).
> And I've been underneath the new one which is getting all the  
> publicity at
> the moment.
>
> The agraffe has undergone continuous development. The current  
> version is of
> some light strong brass-like material, and the three pins are these  
> days
> made of titanium -- I think -- previously he has tried a ceramic pin.
>
> A couple of points missing in this thread:
>
> 1. The termination at the front is identical, it involves a similar  
> agraffe
> attached to the plate, but upside down. So the wire passes under this
> agraffe and over the bridge agraffe. It is thought that the  
> vibration is
> more elliptical than transverse with this arrangement compared to the
> typical bridge + steel bridge pin with the wire bent around the pin.
>
> 2. Wayne Stuart goes to a lot of trouble to ensure that the string  
> is in a
> straight line from hitch-pin to the plate-agraffe, by setting the  
> height of
> the wire at the hitch-pin, rather like the "accu-just" system. That  
> part of
> the process is done without the middle pins which bends the wire  
> down. The
> design of the agraffe allows for the middle pin to be pushed into  
> place
> quite easily once the straight line has been established.
>
> 3. The soundboard is not part of an opposing spring system, so is  
> under less
> stress than the typical soundboard. In fact probably under no stress  
> at all,
> which may be a large part of the amazing sustain.  I think the board  
> is
> marginally thinner than usual, and in the current models Mr Stuart  
> is using
> a web pattern in the ribbing. The ribs are much smaller in profile  
> than
> usual.
>
> Tuning the Stuart is a dream. All the coincident partials you're  
> hoping to
> hear are there, as obvious as you can hope for. There is less of that
> strange dance of the partials receding and reemerging and slowing  
> down that
> you get on other pianos. The clarity is extraordinary, and wonderful  
> for a
> tuner, but the same feature perhaps takes away from the random color  
> that
> pianists expect.