Quiet Russian Piano

[Sarah Fox]

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Hi Terry,

I remember once chatting with an immigrant Russian tech who was busily =
restoring an S&S M for a piano dealer.  He was fiercely proud of the =
Renner action he was installing.  "German," he said with an assured =
smile.  He was obviously as happy as he could be.

He told me a bit about his history.  He did belly work (as I recall) for =
a Russian piano company.  He hated his job there, because the machinery =
was inferior, and he wasn't allowed the time needed to fit parts =
correctly.  Construction/assembly was very haphazard at best.  He said, =
contemptuously, that Russian pianos "are all CRAP."  (his emphasis and =
wording)  I remember being a bit surprised, considering Russia's =
attention to the arts.

I felt quite happy for the man that he found his way to a satisfying =
job, where he was doing his best work on pianos he considered worthy of =
his time.

With regard to the church's piano, I would venture a guess that it's =
just the nature of the beast.  I bet the soundboard is poorly designed, =
poorly fit, and perhaps rather thick.  It's also quite possible that =
wire diameters were whatever the factory had on hand at the time.  Just =
a guess.

Peace,
Sarah

  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Farrell=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2004 6:27 AM
  Subject: Quiet Russian Piano


  I looked at a piano for one of my customers that someone had donated =
to his church. I think it is Russian - a Liski, or something like that. =
Looks to be less than 20 years old and is a studio. Everything works OK, =
except it has no power - you can bang on the keys, but only moderated =
volume results. I checked the action - blow distance and the like - made =
sure the bridges were attached, etc. My strong suspicion is that the =
string scale and soundboard designs are just so far out of whack that =
the lack of power is simply part of this piano and always will be. Any =
thoughts? Might I be missing something?

  Perhaps, to put things into proper perspective, I should mention this =
piano is in an African-American Missionary Baptist Church. I guarantee =
you they are looking for some VOLUME! I did offer the suggestion of =
miking (how do you spell mice-ing?) the piano if they were going to be =
using that piano.=20

  Fun Kinda Related Story:
  In a similar church I service a Kawai 6-foot or so grand. One time =
they called me because the sustain pedal wasn't working. Sounded pretty =
typical to me - sure, they likely beat the pedal right off the lyre or =
something. When I got there I realized that the pedal simply had no =
travel - in fact, none of the pedals had any travel - they were right on =
the stage floor. Hmmmmmmm, what could it be. Then I noticed that this =
Kawai was the model where the two front legs were shorter than the back =
leg - they had pounded that piano so hard that the two front legs went =
through the stage floor and the only reason the keybed was not on the =
floor was that the lyre had yet to be pounded through the floor - the =
front of the piano was only being supported by the lyre. YIKES!

  Terry Farrell
---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/5f/60/a0/1f/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--