A treble in trouble

[Delwin D Fandrich]

JIMRPT@aol.com wrote:

> Ted;
>  A new string job is not as stable as one which has had numerous tunings,
> naturally, and this is might be the cause of your 'M' being a little flat
> each time.
> A loose pinblock to plate flange might be an indicator of not quite accurate
> workmanship but it does not needfully cause the piano to go flat.  If the
> pinblock is glued and doweled into the stretcher and side rims any forward
> movement of the pinblock will be  minimal.  If 'not' glued/screwed/ doweled,
> there is no telling what will happen to the plate/tuning (perhaps Del will
> speak to this)
>   Before you cross this firm off, be sure that the reason for such apparent
> instability is/was not just due to the lack of adequate tuning/rubbing in the
> shop before delivery.  You say "It has received 8 tunings since its
> reconditioning." Does this mean that you have tuned it eight times? & How
> long has it been since it was delivered?
>   I tell my customers, and the techs, I rebuild for that it will take at
> least a year for a newly restrung instrument to settle down and the more
> times they tune it the quicker this will happen.  Some settle down faster
> than others, why ? I don't know. >:|
> Jim Bryant (FL)

Ted, Jim, et al,

>From the sound of Ted's original post, the piano was restrung by someone in whom he has faith. Had this been a first
experience I might be inclined to suspect a poor pinblock fit or installation. (We once re-did a Steinway pinblock done by a
"well-known rebuilder" that looked like it had been hacked out with a chain saw. It was neither glued nor doweled to either
the rim or the bellyrail. The customer--another rebuilder--was clued in by the fact that about half of the tuning pin holes
in the block did not line up with the holes in the plate. A few of them could barely be seen.) I don't know how this piano
would have performed, it never got that far. We put in another block and another new soundboard.

In general, Steinway plates are a bit on the light weight side. This is an intentional part of the design; they're not just
being "cheap" trying to save iron. This design depends on the pinblock being a structural part of the rim assembly to help
support the plate. They also depend on the plate nose and wedge assembly to transfer and distribute some of the load from the
plate/pinblock to the belly braces. Steinway's more than most depend on a good, tight fit between the pinblock and plate.
They also depend on having the nose wedge firmly in place between the plate nose and the belly rail (or "tone-collector").
Properly put together, and with the nose wedge properly in place, it all makes an enormously rigid assembly.

If the pinblock were not glued and doweled to the rim assembly and/or if the wedge were not correctly installed I would
expect plate problems down the road. It would probably break eventually (if not right away). I'd expect the strut between the
bass/tenor break to go. If the wedge is correctly installed, but the block is not glued and doweled, who knows? The piano
would probably be fairly unstable even if the block were well fitted to the pinblock flange. I can't imagine any shop with
more than a passing knowledge of (and respect for) Steinway piano construction doing the job this way, however.

Aside from checking to be sure that the pinblock is firmly glued in place and in firm contact with the plate pinblock flange
and that the wedge (or in the case of those with the flat square plate that is butted up against a recess in the belly rail
and screwed in place, the wood shim) is firmly in place, there may not be much you can do but wait it out. Well, you could
also check to be sure that the plate bolts and pinblock screws are snug. (Now, if you've been reading your Journal, you know
I don't believe in overdoing this, but it's not a bad idea to check them with a new or a recently rebuilt piano.) You might
also check the nose bolt blocks, though I've never seen one of these come loose on its own. I have seen a couple that were
taken off for some obscure reason and put back on incorrectly. It's hard to do it wrong, though--it's a pretty simple system.

Depending on where the piano goes, we don't expect a fresh rebuilt piano to settle down for at least 12 to 18 months. A bit
longer than that if the piano has had a new soundboard installed as well. Generally, we advise the piano owner to expect
their pianos to require at least four tunings the first year, three the second and two thereafter. During the first year this
schedule would call for the first tuning 30 days after delivery (the piano is delivered tuned and on, or very slightly above,
pitch), the second two months later, the third following three to four months after that and then at four month intervals
until the piano has fully stabilized. This schedule might well be revised by their tuner (who must be considered the final
judge of the matter) but this would be pretty typical. It would not be unusual to expect some drop in pitch each time.

Regards,

--ddf