Private post/Cutoff bars etc.

[Erwinspiano@aol.com]

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 ... Hey John I like 
> that idea of laminating beech onto the top of your blocks.

if you plan on doing this let me know and I will tell you how I do it.
 >>>>>Yes I think I would like to. It makes sense
>    On a different subject, the bottom of a B board always has  the "tone 
> pulsator" bar that encompasses 3 to 5 ribs depending on the age of the 
> piano. What is it that this is really supposed to accomplish. 
>  I'm not sure  it's needed & wondered if just making longer full height 
ribs wouldn't 
> be just as good. Your thoughts?

Dale,

I did a cut-off bar on a B once and I can say it sounded fine.  But it 
didn't sound any better than the old arraignment. If I were building new 
pianos under my name I would consider a cut off bar but since people pay 
me to restore their Steinways I am going to stick to this feature.
>>>I understand this
I really can't buy the idea that the pulsator is just a gimmick. I doubt 
that any piano buyers are aware that it is there. I think it is a 
general rule that anything that requires the client to bend over to see 
is not a not there to impress them. Isn't the patent number on the side 
facing the board?
>>>No, it faces down along with the words tone pulsator & patent date.
  I usually reuse the old one because of the historical words etc. It's kind 
of cool.
  It probably was a solution to a problem (the same one 
the cut-off bar addresses) and it seems to work O.K.
>>>>  Come to think of it the D has only a Modest cutoff bar but the board is 
narrower so the ribs are a bit stiffer already
. There are lots of 
other things we can do to improve the quality and durability of the 
Steinways we work on that are less destructive and easier to do.
>>>Like quality construction techniques and attention to details,tongue & 
groove panels, Adequate amounts of crown, panel thinning & An organized 
downbearing scheme etc.

In the years I have been doing this job I have done my share of 
experiments. And I have learned plenty from them; mostly about how 
foolish I was to think I could improve on piano evolution. When you 
improve one thing it usually degrades something else. One lesson I have 
learned is that it is better to know how these pianos work than how they 
don't work. So I now spend most of my time looking at how they are 
supposed to work, how they should sound and feel rather than focusing on 
new improvements. This leads to discoveries that are truly useful if not 
as glamorous .I guess I'm just a piano conservative that way. I don't like 
seeing 
vinyl siding on old houses either!

 Thanks for the reply--Dale
John

John Hartman Pianos
[link redacted at request of site owner - Jul 25, 2015]

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