Thanks Del! Great commentary! --- Delwin D Fandrich <pianobuilders@olynet.com> wrote: > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "gordon stelter" <lclgcnp@yahoo.com> > To: <pianotech@ptg.org> > Sent: July 30, 2002 10:02 PM > Subject: Re: US made Yamaha upright > > > > Dear List, > > I just tuned a new 48 or 50" Yamaha upright > at a > > church ( forget what model ). It was clean, shiny > and > > new, and had a uniform action. But, frankly, > the > > tone lacked "depth". The words "Two Dimensional" > > and "Superficial" come to mind. For all of their > other > > problems, a nasty, clunky, filthy old American > upright > > from the teens still has more "depth" of tone, > more > > resonance than this thing does! That is my > subjective > > opinion. Can someone put it into objective, > scientific > > terms and offer an explanation or remedy? > > Respectfully, > > Gordon Stelter > > The simple answer is: > Welcome to the heavy and stiff soundboards/hard > hammer world. > > The more complex answer is, well, more complex. One > could easily present a > three to six hour class--and I have--on the subject > and not but scratch the > surface. Suffice it to say that you are hearing the > result of a variety of > mass-production techniques and materials all working > together to give the > sound you are hearing. Precisely and beautifully > built but musically flat. > > Changing this would not easy--indeed, well-nigh > impossible. There is no easy > fix. Newton has suggested Ronsen hammers and this > will certainly take of the > hard edge but you may well lose so much power in the > process the results may > not be acceptable. That scale and soundboard were > not designed to > accommodate hammers that soft. Besides, the piano > was probably, at least in > part, sold on the basis of its great and wonderful > power and it wouldn't do > to take that away, now would it? > > Please repeat after me: > Power is good! Dynamics are bad! > Power is good! Dynamics are bad! > Power is good! Dynamics are bad!..... > > The real solution would be to swap out the > soundboard with one that is a bit > more flexible and probably a bit lighter, back off > on the scaling some and > then use a more resilient hammer; all of which > working together are better > suited to the type of dynamic sound you find so > endearing. This would take a > bit more time and effort on the soundboard work and > on both hammer making > and the voicing, of course, but what you would end > up with would be a real > pianoforte instead of a FORTE. > > Regretfully, > > Del > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better http://health.yahoo.com
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