echoes in schidmayer upright

[oren bendor]

Thanks very much indeed, it is greatly appreciated
Oren

 --- pbailey <pbailey@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > I will
second Stephen's comments and suggestion; and
> further I will 
> recommend tuning this instrument in a well
> temperament
> or possibly even a 'mild' meantone, like  the Marsh
> 4/25 comma (see 
> Jorgensen's  TUNING).
> 
> If the harmonic alignment  of the tones is organized
> in a well 
> temperament,  ''residual echo'' will have quite a
> different effect. Try
> it, you just might  like it.
> 
> The inefficient damping is a fault or a feature
> according to what you 
> aim to achieve; but I think this instrument was
> designed to
> sound as you describe, and an appropriate tuning
> would demonstrate this 
> feature that amplifies the musicality.
> 
> They built it this way because they wanted it to
> sound as it does. Give 
> it an appropriate tuning, and you might start to
> hear
> what the builders had in mind.
> 
> 										Paul Bailey
> 										Modesto CA
> 
> 
> On Sunday, April 28, 2002, at 10:35 PM, Stephen
> Birkett wrote:
> 
> > 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.
> >
> > 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
> >
>  

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