Voicing of high bass on Steinway L

[David Love]

It's possible but it would probably not be as good as changing to a wound
string.  Often the Bb26 is too loud for the transition because of the
combination of soundboard differences at the bottom of the tenor bridge and
the top of the bass bridge and the difference in overall tension between
notes 26 and 27.  You can try mass loading the top of the bass bridge and
see if it helps.   The large vise grips on the bridge pins on note 26 will
tell you something.  If it seems to work you can add a brass weight from the
underside.  That will help with the upper end of the bass bridge.  It won't
resolve the low tenor problem unfortunately.    

 

David Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Bec and John Silva
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 2:39 PM
To: Pianotech List
Subject: Re: Voicing of high bass on Steinway L

 

Hi David,

 

Could a change to the plain-wire notes be as simple as using a different
diameter wire? I'd rather not switch to wound strings, as the only one that
really bothers me is the B27, and it bothers me much less than the tone of
the Bb26 and often the A25 as well. But the B27 could have a little less
"gut", if you know what I mean.

 

- John

 





When I've had the scales recalculated, the changes that seem to need to be
made are often the tensions in the plain wire section of the low tenor to a
greater degree than the wrapped tension in the high bass.  Lowering the
tension in the high bass to match what is often a too low tension in the low
tenor doesn't seem like a good solution to me.  When restringing the bass on
these instruments, consider having the scale recalculated and altering a few
of the lower notes in the plain wire section of the tenor as part of the
job.  That, combined with a blending of the wrapped strings and a change to
the monchords that almost always needs to be done from the original, can
help the tenor/bass transition and the low bass quality.  Mass loading at
these transition points can help too. 

 David Love

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