Steinway "O"

[HartmanCJ@aol.com]

Bill
Thanks for your comments.  You asked me why does it matter that the board
has no crown or  even counter crown after removal from the case.   In a
situation like this the board is being forced to crown  by the bevel of the
inner rim.  The soundboards surface is stretched or in other words the board
is in tension in this situation.  The whole idea with crown is to make it
possible for downbearing to compress the soundboard panel.   Compressing the
board with d.b. has a number of beneficial effects because doing so increases
the speed that vibrations travel in the board.  The effects include improved
sustain in the treble, more efficient soundboard function that can increase
the volume of sound, clearer and rounder tone and the overall widening of the
dynamic range.  More on this subject will be found in my upcoming article in
PTJ on the relationship between downbearing and piano tone.  This should be
coming out in August or September.

Besides the fact that having the board in tension may adversely effect the
tone it will also effect the durability.  Wood is particularly week in
tension across the grain.   When there is minimum crown in a soundboard the
downbearing compresses only the area nearest the bridge.  Further away the
surface is in tension.  New soundboards with adequate crown will distribute
the d.b. load evenly throughout the boards surface.  This arrangement is
more durable.  It is worth wile to examine the difference in crown between a
new and old board outside of their cases.  A new well made board will have as
much as 5/8 crown at 8% EMC.  This is what the old board had originally!

I would like to comment briefly on the other issue you raised; the validity
of soundboard replacement.  I have certainly experienced the same things that
you have in restringing older pianos without replacing the board.  The
results I got where impressive to most of my client.  I know that I made
enormous improvements to the piano and the jobs were a value to my clients.
  I also gained a great deal of valuable experience.  A number of things
though could be said to dampen my enthusiasm.  The pianos that I rebuilt in
this way were long over due for attention.  Just about any worthwhile efforts
on my part would have made a marked improvements.  Another aspect is that
sooner or latter many of these instruments developed problems.  Ribs reglued
 so carefully came unglued again and the hours I spent shimming the cracks
became wasted effort as I witnessed the progress of  pairs of cracks where
one was before.  These sorts of problems made me realize that I would have to
change my attitude and approach if  I was to be happy and prosper in my work.
 I learned that it just wasnt worth the frustration and risk to save the
board.

What attitudes did I harbor that blocked me from seeing this earlier?  The
taboo is one; technicians are not supposed to tinker with the heart and soul
of the piano and soundboards are too mysterious to understand.  All I can say
to this is that piano technicians designed and built piano soundboards and we
today can develop the knowledge and skills to work on any and all aspects of
the piano.  The durability issue;  the soundboard will last for ever, after
all, Strads just keep sounding better and better.  Knowing what I know now
about wood technology and my experience with rebuilding, I recognize the
inevitable; soudboards are not a permanent element of the piano.  Because of
 the factors of compression set and time dependent deformation, soundboards
that have crown and downbearing will certainly deteriorate over time and
eventually fail to function as they were intended.  We should remember that
the violin functions differently than the piano and that a violin with a flat
top plate would still work but sound pretty bad.  The issue of tone quality;
 a new board will not sound any better than the old one.  In one regard I can
agree with this, many shops are installing inferior boards.  I have witnessed
here on the east cost large operations that make no attempt to crown their
boards.  A new flat board will not sound any better than an old flat board.
The bottom line on the quality of tone issue is personal experience and
taste, both of which vary a great deal from tech. to tech.  After
experiencing the improved tone quality in the middle of the scale and in the
lower treble as well as the expanded dynamic rang I now find it hard to
imagine going back to using older boards in my rebuilding.  Voicing now is a
pleasure, seeing haw far I can push the dynamic range without distortion.
 The results of this are not always apparent to my clients but when an
experienced player has this at their touch they truly appreciate the
available power as well as the rounder and clearer tone at all volumes.  The
issue of cost; if my clients dont have the need for this level of quality
why should they pay for a new board?  Simply because it cost more to keep the
board than to replace it.  A beautifully rebuilt piano with a new pin block,
new high quality strings, a completely restored action and a new finish,
every thing but a new board, is a piano out of balance.  Sooner or latter,
before the other new parts need to be replaced, the soundboard problems will
need to be fixed.  Have you ever replaced a board in a piano recently
rebuilt?  I have, a number of times, and it is no picnic for the unlucky
clients.  Our discussion of this topic started with an inquiry about what
kind of strings to use on a 1916 S&S O.  Before you decide on the strings
or the tuning pins and before you order the parts a decision has to be made
whether or not it is worth doing all of these things without replacing the
board.

Thanks again for your interest.  I could also send you a copy of Grand Piano
Repair and Restoration Outline if  you are interested.  This is a hand out
(describing various procedures and when in the life of the piano it is
appropriate  to use them) from a resent class I gave at the New York State
Conference on evaluating pianos for restoration.  I could send this directly
or post it if there is interest.

John Hartman