Baldwin 'D', #137---, or Have I been sleeping??

[Susan Kline]

At 08:58 AM 11/25/2001 -0800, Del wrote:
>but it was just one more attempt to add some
>sizzle to a region where some soundboard design work was really needed.

You know, Del, I think that the added sizzle was the point. It also was
probably the point of the unmuted tuning pin segments in the capo sections,
the ones which people usually slip some felt under, since they make tuning
the unisons so hard.

It seems to me, also, that the 4th string on the Blüthners may be for
the same thing, although they don't say so. Tuning a couple of beauties
last summer (thanks to Steve Brady! they were LOVELY!) it seemed to
me that the 4th string may have actually been intended to muddy
the waters.

You know that when there's a TRULY clean, whistle clean, unison, the
note sort of feels clamped and tight and loses sustain? When I muted off
the 4th string, the unisons at the top end of the Blüthners were this
clean. Just no falseness of any kind ... and they didn't sing very well.
Add the 4th string, and there was the sizzle, but they sounded opener
and lasted better. I found, also, that if I detuned the 4th string
(downward, of course), I could alter that timbre of the note
considerably, depending on where I put it. Each string seemed to want
a different deviation to get a sweet, full sound. I thought of
doing it for the concerts, but it seemed to be taking a liberty,
so I just tuned the 4th string to the best unison I could. It
certainly got me thinking, though.

Another observation, from tuning Steinway 1098's -- I tune one for a
teacher, who has a decent Asian upright sitting next to it, and I sweat
bullets trying to get the 1098 to sound clean and stable ... but the
teacher always will choose the Steinway to play on, without question.
So I sat down and played them both, just a little piece, and I agreed.
It seems to me that as tuners we tend to judge pianos by which are
easier to tune and maintain. If we can get a good, clean, stable tuning,
that's a "good" piano. But sometimes the very tonal aspects which give
us fits are the ones which offer musical possibilities ...

Just a thought -- maybe I'd better put on that flamesuit. Conrad? Any
new features on this year's model?

Susan