Killer Octave Question

[Ron Nossaman]

>Phew Ron,
>
>Are you sure you what me to answer all of these questions?

Yup, I'm sure.


> >> 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 think any of us make a living replacing soundboards in new pianos, 
so I would assume that as a given.

>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.

We're talking about crowned bridges here, and these bridges are being made 
by the same methods, and on the same machinery, and from close enough to 
the same material as they were forty - or eighty years ago. If they 
supported crown then, they ought to support crown now. At least long enough 
to make it out of the showroom. So again, why do so many new Steinways with 
these crowned bridges have concave crown in the killer octaves? This is 
simple straightforward mechanics not having a lot to do with the cost of 
labor or the golden age of anything. You said that crowned bridges support 
soundboard crown and make it last longer. If that's the case, why don't we 
see it in the pianos?


>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

How they work, and what does and doesn't make them work is exactly what 
I'm  addressing here.

Ron N