At 10:20 AM 2/29/96 -0700, you wrote: >The Steinway B at one of the largest churches in Dallas where I service >pianos took a turn for the worst recently. Since its last tuning in early >Jan. when the tone was ok, the tone has suddenly dropped off especially >from C5 on up. The treble bridge has apparently rolled in the C6 to C7 >area. There is negative downbearing on many notes in the C5 to C7 region >and not much crown there or in the middle of the board. It has been dry in >the Dallas area for some time and this church has extremes in humidity. >Humidity control has not worked well since the humidistat gets unplugged >too often. The piano gets moved from the stage fairly often to make room >for other events. That is when it gets unplugged and often does not get >replugged right away when it is moved back several days later. It has 2 >dehumidifier rods and humidistat. A humidifier was out of the question for >obvious reasons. Here is my opinion, and you can take it for what it is worth. Bear in mind that I am an Associate and I don't know everything yet! (I just think I do!) :-) The church where the Steinway B is located has extremes in humidity and is very dry. And if the piano has a humidistat and two dehumidifiers but no humidifier, couldn't that contribute to the dryness problem? The dehumidifiers remove the moisture from the piano when the relative humidity is high; but when the relative humidity is low, the surrounding air will remove more moisture from the piano. And, no moisture is put back into the piano. The net result is that the piano is very dry. Wouldn't the combined effect of a piano being in a dry environment and being dried out further by the dehumidifiers lead to problems with the soundboard losing crown? From the symptoms you are describing, I would say that the piano is suffering from dehydration! I think that the piano really needs some more moisture as soon as possible. The piano is being continually dried out with no moisture put back into it. I would say that the church is setting itself up for problems with this piano just like you are describing. Why do you say that a humidifier is out of the question? What are the obvious reasons? Actually, for a 7' grand, wouldn't it be appropriate to have TWO humidifiers? And, I might add, the church really needs to make sure that the system is plugged in 24 hours a day 365 days a year. If they have trouble doing something as simple as keeping an electrical cord plugged in, how good are they at making sure that the piano is well-maintained? And how do you know they will take good care of a new piano when it seems like they aren't taking care of the one they have? Of course, you are taking care of the piano for them. But when you are not there, who makes sure that the system is plugged in? You can't be there all of the time! A complete Dampp-Chaser system is much less expensive than getting a new 7' Steinway grand. Wouldn't it be worth it to install the complete system to put some moisture back into the piano and see if that increases the crown in the soundboard? If that works, then the church doesn't have to get a new piano right now, but can save up for the purchase. (I don't know from experience that putting moisture back into this piano will bring back the soundboard crown, but it is logical, and I think it is worth a try.) >I am recommending that they stay with Steinway given the fact that they >hold up well in adverse situations. This piano was made in the 70's. (Don't >know if they bought it new) Given the environment I think that other makes >would have also had problems and gone belly up (actually down) by now. >There does not seem to be much interest in restoring this piano when I >mentioned the price of a new board, etc. Doesn't it make sense to spend $20,000.00 to completely rebuild this piano instead of spending $35,000 to $60,000 for a new piano? And if they do get a new piano, they definitely NEED to have a complete Dampp-Chaser installed or they will see the same problems with the new piano that they are seeing with this one. >Thanks for any input > >Fred Yonley, RPT Dear Fred ( and all of the rest of you too!), This is just my two cents worth. If this is helpful, great, but if not, please write to me and tell me what you think about my advice (Good or Bad). Sincerely, David A. Vanderhoofven dkvander@clandjop.com Joplin, Missouri, USA Associate Member, Piano Technicians Guild web page: http://www.clandjop.com/~dkvander/
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