theory about why1970s M&H hard to mute

[Lesher, Trent J.]

Hello all,

I wrote last week about problems I was having muting the outside strings adequately when setting the temperamanet on a 1973 M&H Model 50 (50" upright).  In the end, all I needed was thicker temperament strip mute.  NONE of three strips I had that were made for the purpose worked well on this piano.  So last night, out of curiosity, I measured the thickness of the felt strip I ended up using.  It is about 7/32" thick.  

That seemed unusually thick for a strip mute, from what I've seen & heard from others.  But I have virtually no experience (tuning student) so maybe I'm off on that.  But anyway, I did determine that the space betweens the unisons was on average around 1/16" greater than on my other piano, a 1921 Bush & Lane, and the three strings of the unisons closer together.

So here's my theory.  First I note that this piano was made during a period when M&H's current foster parents were a bit on the negligent, just-in-it-for-the-money side, and quality-control was slipshop.  Second, I note that the hammers were somewhat indifferently aligned to the strings.  Before I got my hands on this piano, some of the strings served only as sympathetic vibrators, the hammer only striking 2 out of 3 strings of some unisons.  So I wonder if whoever strung the pianos deliberately spaced the strings closer together to try to keep the number of strings that ended up being missed by the hammers to a minimum.

Does that seem plausible?

Cheers,

Trent Lesher






















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