Astin-Weight

[Tom Servinsky]

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I remember many years ago I had got my father, who plays professionally, =
a Steinway O. He loved it and changed the way he played. Shortly =
thereafter I moved away, far way, I went back home to found out he that =
traded the Steinway O in for an Astin Weight Concert upright.  I found =
out later it was for space reasons and nothing against the piano. Also =
he was the victim of an unscrupulous piano salesman...but that's for =
another story, another day.
At any rate, as John F. mentioned it is a huge sound  but  with =
tremendous amts. of extra noise and falseness. As many times as I had =
tuned it I could never be satisfied with the result.
Also there was another peculiar problem.  This  piano had a hammer line =
had a radical change from high tenor to  low tenor, something like 3/8" =
of inch. Left of the strut was one measurement, right of the strut it =
was around 3/8" less.  The problem was that ( at the change point) the =
tone definitely sounded as though the hammers  were not hitting the =
correct strike point. It had the empty, hallow characteristic of a =
hammer missing the strike point.  I tried elongating that section, I =
tried changing the hammer angle all to no avail. I then called Astin =
Weight and complained to Ray Astin, one of the owners, and he verified =
that the numbers I had given him were  (in deed) correct.
Any others experience this problem?
Have any noticed Astin Weights  with extremely deep key dip (1/2")? Love =
to hear other remarks.
Tom Servinsky
From: John M. Formsma=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 12:13 AM
  Subject: RE: Astin-Weight


  This is a little off the original topic, but it pertains to =
Astin-Weight pianos. I tuned one of the uprights (I think they called it =
a "Concert Grand Upright"--something like that.) just recently, and it =
was the first one I had tuned aurally.
  =20
  It seemed to have some weird scaling or something different going on =
with the partials. I could get the octaves sounding fine, but the double =
octaves and octave-fifths sounded "off" when single octaves were clearly =
in tune. After futzing with the octave widths, it became evident that =
the best thing to do was simply focus on the octaves and not worry about =
the rest. This I did.
  =20
  There was a lot of falseness throughout--not enough to cause major =
troubles--but it was as if the extra "noise" was there by design. Almost =
like it was designed that way, a different tone than any other piano =
I've encountered before.
  =20
  Regretfully, I did not have enough time to examine the piano as I =
wanted. I did notice there were no back posts, and the bridges were =
quite tall with holes bored through in various places.
  =20
  The overall sound was interesting, like the designers went for the =
biggest sound possible, even if it meant adding extra sound via =
falseness. You could tell the various notes were in tune, but there was =
extra "stuff" going on also.
  =20
  I'd enjoy hearing the perspectives of others who have serviced the =
large Astin-Weight uprights.
  =20
  John M. Formsma
  Blue Mountain, MS=20
  =20
  =20

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