Another thought about Steinway, and specific measurements ingeneral

[Richard Brekne]

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment


Antares wrote:

> Hey but this is a very interesting remark! Maybe that is the key answer to
> our debate.
> I must confess that I have no experience at all with New York Steinways,
> except one time, when me and my wife visited musician friends in NY. (I do
> know however soem older NY Steinways here in Europe, but they are old, and
> quite different from the modern version)
> One of the friends had bought a Steinway grand and she asked me would I
> please remove a pencil she had dropped in the action.
> Me being a jolly and generous guy (;>() I opened up the instrument, pulled
> out the action, removed the pencil and was startled by what I saw.
> First I thought somebody had fooled her. Although I could tell from the
> principle parts like the tubular frame etc that this was a Steinway, I did
> not recognize it from the way I knew the Hamburg Steinways.
> Later I got some more specific info about the differences between the
> Hamburg and the New York Steinways and I now understand better why there is
> a difference.
> First of all the market is different and the prices are much lower, secondly
> there is of course a big difference between the USA and Europe and emotions
> could flare up easily over which instrument is better.
> At the last Frankfurter Messe I talked to a Hamburg representative and he
> told me that he liked the New York bass better than the Hamburg one and the
> Hamburg treble better than the NY one.
> Isn't that a nice statement? ?
>
> Anyway, indeed I have never actually worked on an American Steinway and my
> professional opinion is based only on the Hamburg type.
> Same with the hammers, the voicing, or the felt in general. That fact alone
> has already caused some "discussions" and I now understand better why and
> how differences between different cultures could cause certain confusions.
> And indeed, at the Hamburg factory they were RATHER precise in the use or
> the applying of their own specifics, especially at the regulation and damper
> department (not to mention the gruelling weeks at the voicing dept. on the
> top floor). At Yamaha however they were indeed even more precise and
> extremely dedicated and disciplined, hence, of course, my conscience and
> sympathy for precision, and the use of every detail available.
> To give you one example (if I may?)
> At one time at the Yamaha Academy they showed a diagram of the hammer
> movement and they gave a very precise and detailed "tour" of the hammer blow
> distance, the let off, the drop, and finally the mysterious aftertouch.
> Actually, they already mentioned there and then the eventual deviations in
> measurements : for the hammer blow distance they told the students that a
> hammer blow should always be between 46 mm and 48 mm but no less, and no
> more than that.
> The let off was 2,5 mm - 2 mm -1,5 mm precise (this was the first year, the
> "basic grand piano course") the drop 2 mm and the aftertouch  >> no more <<
> than 0,4 mm. They even gave the option of the "soft landing" or the "hard
> landing".. i.e. much aftertouch or very little aftertouch.
> For that reason they always checked the touch afterwards and, to make an
> even feel all over the keyboard and went back many times to adjust hammer
> blow distance and drop.
> (this was "only" the beginners basic course...wet your whistles for the last
> one! and/or spend some days with Damper-san from the concert grand dept...
> yo will learn to love your very specific measurements! and your steel
> nerves, which you need most urgently)
>
> Anyway, what I am trying to explain here is that I agree that most certainly
> there are several possibilities within the same "frame" but that these have
> been described already in detail in several different factory manuals.
> Time for another capucino.....
>
> Antares
>
>

Yes yes yes.. But my dear freind Antares. We are not talking about a new or
almost new high quality piano, we are not talking about factory regulating, or
regulating just prior to delivery to the customer, nor are we talking about
regulating a piano that the regulator knows from experience fits specs. We are
talking about a 35 year old Steinway L with god know what wear and tear and
tinkering have gone on since it was last touched. If you set a Yamaha hammer to
string distance to the specs you site above knowing that there is at least 3 mm
of felt missing due to wear and reshapeing, well you are going to have one heck
of an aftertouch sensation unless you compensate somewhere. And if you compensate
... well hey.. there goes that spec out the window.

At the design and assembly stage, great... spec your heart out. But a few years
down the line be ready to start flying by the seat of your pants. Or have the
luxery of working on instruments that are in great shape to begin with. And even
then.. pray you dont run into that kind of customer that just doesnt like the
feel of the factory settings.

We's-a not-a living in-a to-a dimensionale world-a.

Richard Brekne
Sydneskleiven 1
5010 Bergen, Norway

E-mail Richard Brekne
Richard Brekne Website


---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/31/ff/ae/47/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--