Voicing of high bass on Steinway L

[Bec and John Silva]

HI Dale,

Thanks for the reply!

On this piano I had actually stuck some Arledge strings in the lowest  
bass - I agree, the single-wound strings on an L produce a useless  
tone in the last few notes, and Arledge's are excellent. I recently  
replaced the entire bass with GC strings. The low end isn't as nice  
as the Arledge bass, but certainly better than the default single- 
wound strings. However, GC alters the string tension in the high  
range (to be lower) and I was suspicious this might contribute to my  
distaste for the tone. From what Danny at GC told me, Steinway  
continues the high tension in the L.

So, in another attempt I just ordered some Mapes, which I assumed  
(perhaps wrongly!) would follow the default Steinway tensions. I am  
hoping to have a better chance at reproducing that relatively  
terrific sound from the L I ran across, which I have just received  
permission to examine next Tuesday. I'll let you know what I turn up  
if you're interested.

As for the piano in question, the hammers are fairly old, maybe even  
originals (from 1925). Nice felt, old-ish but better quality than  
what comes on Steinways now. I personally don't have a problem with  
the tone of notes 27-29, in fact the "original" strings on this piano  
had an acceptable transition from A25-B27 - it was just the Bb26 that  
had a bad sound. I actually just heard a new model O on Monday, which  
also suffered a similar sound on Bb26, but A25 and below were fairly  
nice.

If you have any voicing advice I would really love to hear it! I am  
competent at superficial voicing, but not much more. I'm looking for  
a less punchy attack and a warmer-full-bodied tone. I tried a bit of  
needling on the shoulders, which improved the tone a bit, but I'm  
afraid of over-voicing so I didn't do too much.

Thanks!

- John


>   Hey John
>    The upper bass register of the Steinway L was once scaled at 70%  
> of its breaking strength which IMO helped the power a tonal  
> crossover at the break.  Don't know what the current scaling is  
> except I don't care for the a strings they use. The other problem  
> IMO is that the tensions on notes 27-28-29 are too low for a good  
> transition.  Replacing them with 3 or 4 unisons of bichords  
> improves this tremendously.
>    Also If the bass strings have been replaced, most likely the  
> string maker did not duplicate this fairly high tension in notes 22  
> -26 & I find the lower tensions in this area really make for a  
> substandard sounding high bass.  Arledge is doing in good job in  
> the tension dept. & will accomadate whatever you wish.
>    Other makers may or may not do this upon you request. The L  
> monochords are also a horrible trashy sound as they are short &  
> single wrapped and lack fundamental.  A double wrapped string will  
> open up the bottom end of the piano considerably.  Talk about being  
> stuck in the past, I mean mud. Oops . JMO coming thru again.
>   By the way what kind of hammers are we talking about.  This is  
> loads to do with it.
>   Dale
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