Killer Octave Question

[John Hartman]

Phew Ron,

Are you sure you what me to answer all of these questions? I feel like a 
general at a CENTCOM briefing. I can' answer all of this at once so let 
me bite off one and see how it goes.

 >> I have worked on many brands of grand pianos and have observed that
 >> some pianos seem not to have this feature but the two brands that
 >> consistently show evidence of bridge crowning are Steinway and Mason
 >> and Hamlin.
 >
 >
 > John,
 > How then does this correlate with the number of new Steinways we see
 > (often enough on the showroom floor) with concave crown in the killer
 > octave? It seems to me that if a crowned bridge is supporting soundboard
 > crown and making it last longer, there ought to be soundboard crown to
 > show for it. Especially in a new piano.

Since my rebuilding process involves soundboard replacement I usualy 
work on pianos that are over the hill - say 40 years old or more. I 
don't expect to see very much crown left at this stage no matter how 
well made or what design principles were used. As far as how new pianos 
are fairing; all I can think is that we are simply not living at a time 
in history that is conducive to building fine pianos. We no longer have 
the cheap skilled work force or the economic momentum (competition for a 
growing marker) that was the fertile environment that nurtured these 
fine instruments.  Furthermore, and most telling is how far we are 
removed from the aesthetic soil that gave rise to a true renaissance in 
piano building. The public's ears are no longer attuned to the 
subtleties of tone and fewer and fewer of them would know the difference 
between the frogs seen in hotel lobbies or the finely prepared pianos of 
Carnegie Hall. Now days we are lucky if a few pop out the factory door 
without fatal flaws.

Fortunately the news is not all black for us technicians in this era of 
shrinking interest in the piano. There are still a few great oaks 
standing in the old growth forest. They with there followers are still 
interested in the piano and the music written for it. I can't think of 
any of them that I have met that would not want their piano to sound and 
play as well as those built at the height of the golden era of piano 
building. It is their hope as - I hear it - that playing these pianos 
will give them greater insight into the music they love to play. I think 
that studying these instruments is vital to us technicians - and not 
just studying how they don't work but how they do work.

John Hartman RPT

John Hartman Pianos
[link redacted at request of site owner - Jul 25, 2015]
Rebuilding Steinway and Mason & Hamlin
Grand Pianos Since 1979

Piano Technicians Journal
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