steinway c 1868

[Horace Greeley]

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Hi, Ric,

To chime in with Dale (with whom I completely agree here), you will also 
want to take a very careful look at those agraffes.  Many of the 
instruments I have seen from this period had the agraffes ground for 
clearance after installation, and/or have simply become weakened from 
age.  If you wind up restringing, which is a good option, depending on the 
circumstances, I would suggest finding a good machinist with whom to become 
very good buddies.  (Theoretically, it will take 440 with room to spare.)

Also, it sounds like you might have the original damper back action...sigh.

I'll be interested to see how this unfolds.

Best.

Horace


At 05:12 PM 5/21/2005, you wrote:
>  Hi Ric
>     This is not a C but a style 1 or 2 with the S shaped metal soundboard 
> cutoff in the bass corner & aggraffes all the way to the top of the 
> trebles ...Right? some of these were designed to be tuned at a much 
> higher tension during the pitch wars of the late  1800s.
>    I re-bellied one built in 1871 & the original string scale was built 
> for A-458. You need to find out if the rebuilder rescaled for A-440 to 
> answer the question you have asked. At A-440 the scale designed for 
> higher tension will not speak properly but sound dull & lifeless 
> especially in the top 2 agraffe sections  Ask me how I know.
>   Measure some string lengths  & th'er corresponding string sizes , At 
> various locations & run them thru a scale design program & see what the 
> tension read out is. If the tensions aren't up round 150 to 60 then 
> something is wrong.
>    Best
>   Dale Erwin
>Hi List,
>New client has a Steinway C . Rebuilt; nice job on strings, original 
>repaired soundboard and bridges, damper job not so great. Dampers falling 
>off lifting uneven etc.
>Can this piano be tuned to a-440? it is about 100 cents flat now. I 
>noticed an unusual curved piece of metal attached to the soundboard at the 
>bass side near the pin block. Can anyone elaborate on it?
>
>Rick Ucci/Ucci Piano
>
>

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