S&S Sound

[Ron Torrella]

Sometime, fairly recently, Norman Brickman wrote:

> > 1) I feel that the Steinway New York hammers need improvement.  Steinway
> > technicians describe them in meetings I have been to as being of low
> > density, and therefore needing to be juiced/hardened to build up
> > adequate power and quality of sound.  As I mentioned in my last post, I
> > too often find the resulting treble sound to be thin, shallow, tinny,
> > and/or bright -  with  voicing / tone regulation unable to compensate.

Which era of hammers are you speaking about?  I don't agree that current
hammers are "low density."  On the contrary, I think they're rather dense
(and small -- too small?).

There's been a lot of speculation on whether Steinway's move to high-tech
soundboard installation has compromised the quality of the instrument --
I'd like to see the research on soundboards installed the "old fashioned
way"  and those installed with Steinway's current method showing the
difference.  Any takers?


			     Ron Torrella, RPT
			Assistant Piano Technician
			  University of Michigan
			      School of Music