echoes in schidmayer upright

[Greg Torres]

Steven, and all,

Although I have never heard an explanation quite like that I agree with the
idea that some damper mechanisms might be "too efficient"...perhaps for some
styles of music anyway...

Best,
Greg

> Instantaneous tonal castration has not always been the ideal - the end of
> the sound was once considered as important as the beginning and middle.
> Dampers on early Viennese fortepianos, contrary to what you may hear from
> some quarters, was actually _not_ instantly efficient. By the 1840s, the
> Viennese fell in love with very hazy damping and after-ring, having been
> exposed to the aesthetic of English pianos. I expect your Schiedmayer was
> designed to sound the way it does because they liked the effect and wanted
> it to sound that way. They would probably say modern dampers are too
> efficient, while modern techs say theirs were too inefficient. Learn to
> love it for what it is - it will grow on you.
>
> Stephen
>
> Stephen Birkett Fortepianos
> Authentic Reproductions of 18th and 19th Century Pianos
> 464 Winchester Drive
> Waterloo, Ontario
> Canada N2T 1K5
> tel: 519-885-2228
> mailto: sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen Birkett" <sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 12:35 AM
Subject: Re: echoes in schidmayer upright


> Oren wrote:
>
> >I am an owner and player of a schiemayer upright, obligque strung
> >underdamped piano.  It was made in
> >1885 by J. and P. Schiemayer and has a highly ...
> >richer, dynamic and powerful.  The problem is that there is a residual
> >echo in it.  Even when I talk near
> >it when the piano is closed it reverberates.  This is annoying given the
> >excellent tone.  Whenever I move
> >from loud play into pianissimo the echo annoys. The restorer maintains
> >that as a matter of design the
> >dampers are perhaps too small and too high up so thre are still live
> >strings although the damping system
> >operates as best it can.
>