Mahogany was Wood & Humidity

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Nossaman" <RNossaman@KSCABLE.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: December 31, 2000 8:12 PM
Subject: Re: Mahogany was Wood & Humidity


> >Ya know, so much of marketing hype is %^*&! It is so refreshing to find
> >marketing hype like your post identifies that actually states the truth -
> >hard to find much that compares with the Storytone!
> >
> >Terry Farrell
>
> Yep, they're bound to leave an impression.
>
> Ron N

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OK, folks, the old year is gone, time marches on and it's time for my very
first rant of the shiny new year and the brand new millennium.

Sadly, both of the above observations have much merit. The unforgettable
laminated mahogany 'Storytone' soundboards, along with a few laminated
poplar boards from Baldwin and some laminated 'whateverwood' boards from
Kimball, Grand, misc. Aeolian Stencils, etc., have done more to prevent the
development of good-quality, high-performance laminated soundboards than
anything else the industry could have thought of. (Why is it that we seem to
keep shooting ourselves in the foot like this?)

So very often these pianos are cited as examples, absolute proof-positive
examples, of why laminated soundboards don't work. And it is some tiresome
to be forced--Yes, forced, I say!--to continually point out that no, these
are not examples proving that laminated soundboards don't work. No! These
examples do not prove that laminated soundboards don't work. Nor do they
prove that mahogany soundboards, or poplar soundboards, or whateverwood
soundboards, don't work. These are simply examples of how laminated
soundboards--regardless of what they are made of--can be made to sound just
as bad as any other type of soundboard when folks (In this case, well paid
folks working for their respective piano manufacturing companies--remember,
company's don't do this stuff, people do this stuff.) use a material or a
process stupidly.

And, let's face it folks, many of the pianos built by some of these same
companies didn't sound all that great even when they used solid-spruce
soundboards. So, was it the fault of the laminated mahogany Storytone
soundboard? Or is there some slight chance, perhaps, that there were other
factors involved that might absolve the laminated soundboard--whether it be
made of mahogany, poplar, spruce or whateverwood--from some, perhaps even
most, of the blame?

To the best of my knowledge there has been no case in which a piano
manufacturer has actually tried to develop a laminated soundboard with the
sole hope of making a better sounding and better performing piano. Even what
little work Lew Herwig was able to do at Wurlitzer was really intended to
result in a lower cost soundboard. (It didn't, but that's another story.) As
was most the work I have done in the area. Still, I was able to learn enough
about their characteristics to convince me that laminated soundboards, were
it not for the decades of bad press they have received because of how
stupidly they were used in decades past, would be the soundboards of choice
for the future. If others have researched this area, I'd sure like to hear
about it.

This is one area that is wide open for evolution and improvement. When all
of the wonderful marketing prose used to describe the 'solid-spruce'
soundboards used in 'modern' pianos is stripped away, the material is left
with some serious problems.
  -- Solid-spruce soundboards are climatically unstable.
  -- The acoustic results of solid-spruce soundboards are unpredictable.
That is, no two pianos, even of identical design and construction, using
solid-spruce soundboards will sound exactly the same. Even if they are
supposed to.
  -- The acoustic results are problematic. That is, since the demands of the
soundboard vary from treble to bass, it is impossible to fabricate a
'solid-spruce' soundboard in a manner that will function equally well
throughout the scale. It is necessary to compromise either extreme.
  -- Especially when used in the 'traditional' manner, solid-spruce
soundboards self-destruct under normal use.
  -- Under normal use, solid-spruce soundboards are prone to develop
compression ridges and cracks, both of  which lead to great panic and
consternation among most everyone involved even if (as is often the case)
these 'flaws' are of no acoustical significance.
  -- Due to a general lack of understanding of both the raw material and the
final product, the industry has placed such high, unreasonable and
unrealistic standards on the material that we are stripping our few
remaining forests looking 'good' spruce for piano soundboards. The waste
rate is incredible. Need I add that our industry has done, and is doing,
absolutely nothing to replace any of the spruce it has used to ensure an
ongoing supply. In the words on one industry executive who, for his own
protection will go un-named, "Why should I worry about it? There's enough
Sitka spruce to last until I'm gone." Fortunately for the forests at least,
his company is now gone. Unfortunately for us, so is most of the Sitka
spruce.

Well, you know I could go on, but I'll give you a break and end it here.

My point in all of this is simply that we cannot automatically blame either
a material or a type of construction for bad piano sound or performance. We
have to look at the overall package. If a laminated soundboard is used and
the piano does not sound good, is it necessarily the fault of the soundboard
material or construction? Is the soundboard really a soundboard? Or is it
simply a piece of plywood put into the piano in place of a designed and
engineered soundboard panel? What about the rib scale? What about the
stringing scale? What about soundboard loading? What about the bridges? What
about the action and hammers? What about the framework, whether it be a
grand rim or a vertical back assembly? Etc. No, we must go back and examine
that Story & Clark as a complete entity--it is remotely possible that we
might find some slight design and/or construction limitations in one or more
of the above areas?

OK. I'm done now and I feel much better. Thank you all for listening and
have a great New Year.

Regards,

Del
Delwin D Fandrich
Piano Designer & Builder
Hoquiam, Washington  USA
E.mail:  pianobuilders@olynet.com
Web Site:  http://pianobuilders.olynet.com/