"Sea Level Pianos" (long!)

[John Musselwhite]

>>It would be what I call a "sea-level piano". They (SLPs) probably do quite
>>well under the right conditions but at nearly four thousand feet with
>>temperatures swinging back and forth from down to -40 up to +16 C in the
>>winter (the traditional time for concerts) they take a great deal of work to
>>maintain - if they can be maintained at all. Many "imported" pianos seem to
>>fall into this category under these conditions.

>I'm really not sure what you mean by a "sea-level piano."  Are you
>suggesting that because Calgary is at 4000 ft. and gets cold, that an
>imported piano will not hold up as well as a domestic piano?

Although I apologize for over-generalized a bit (and indeed, for the length
of this message), that is what I'm suggesting. The climate here is
exceedingly cold and dry and unless a piano is specifically built to
withstand it it won't do very well (IMO).

>Steinway (New York) is manufactured at sea level.  Fazioli is manufactured
>in Sacile, Italy - a town north of Venice approaching the Alps ie. a much

My use of "SLP" does not indicate where the instrument is made, but where it
fares the best. Some pianos, like some people, just cannot tolerate the
climate here.

>higher altitude and much colder.  According to your logic the Fazioli would
>be the better choice for conditions in Calgary.

You would first have to convince me by example that the Fazioli is made out
of the correct woods for this climate (the most important) and is
manufactured using techniques which will stand up under this climate. The NY
Steinway has proven itself repeatedly to be capable of withstanding it, plus
they are built with native woods using time-honoured processes. Even a
Hamburg, which theoretically is almost identical with the NY piano except
for the woods, reacts differently and not very favourably here. While they
do eventually stabilize, they aren't the same piano you would hear if they
were being played in NY, Hamburg or even Vancouver. For that matter, my
personal feeling is that NO piano sounds the same here as it would at sea
level simply because the air here is less dense. However, once wood is dry
here it pretty-well stays dry, and we do not have moths or wood-eating bugs
to contend with. How much (and where) it shrinks or how well it stabilizes
due to the climate is another story.

I've always wanted to weigh some actual pianos from the factories in NY and
Hamburg as well as other places and then weigh them here a year or so later
(or even five years later) just to see how much water they've lost. Has
anyone ever done that?

>I don't think that such a blanket statement about imported pianos shows
>much thought.  I wouldn't touch some imported pianos with a ten foot tuning
>hammer.  Others, like the Fazioli are wonderful instruments that are built
>solidly and do hold up under extreem conditions - at least as well as any
>piano can.  I understand that you don't like the price tag, neither do I,
>but for some price is not an issue.

Part of the problem is the one that was here for Ciccolini did NOT stand up
to our climate. While it wasn't given the chance to stabilize either, it
still did not stand up as well as the Steinways which have been brought in
under similar conditions. For almost twice the price of an S&S D it would
have to be a lot more than wonderful, it would have to be SPECTACULAR!
Personally, I wouldn't want to subject a "spectacular" piano to this climate.

Now... modern Japanese pianos such as Yamaha and Kawai are a bit different
as they learned the lessons about this climate. They stand up reasonably
well here if looked after properly but still not quite as well as the
comparable North American pianos.

My apologies if I offended anyone by my SLP remarks. They are based on what
I feel are the conditions under which we work here as opposed to any bias
against imported pianos. There are many European (and Asian) pianos I
service of which I'm enormously fond and some of them are wonderful
instruments (some I'm fond of for other reasons).

Besides... the term is certainly more flattering than PSO (piano-shaped
object) I hear bantered around...  B-})

As an aside, I used to collect C.F. Martin guitars, particularly older
models.  The only way to keep them in good condition here was not to enjoy
them so I eventually sold the entire collection. It went to Vancouver, where
at least the instruments can be taken out of their cases and played. The
climate here is just too harsh to properly maintain some musical instruments
over the long term unless they're built to take it or you are prepared for
the higher maintenance costs.

                        John
John Musselwhite, RPT
Calgary, Alberta Canada
musselj@cadvision.com