G-2 soundboard modification

[Bec and John Silva]

Hi Dale,

Although recordings often can't reflect how a piano really sounds in  
person, it'd be nice if you were able to make a recording so we could  
get a taste.

- John


>    Hello to all
>    A few weeks ago I reported on a project of thinning a very thick  
> 30 year old Yamaha G-2 Soundboard.  (See post below )    FYI a G-2  
> is 5 ft. 7 inches.
>   This piano was re strung using Arledge bass wire & mapes Gold  
> plain wire.  The crown was adequate as was bearing.
>   We used the Ronsen Wurzen felt.  The tonal outcome was beyond my  
> expectations The overall balance clarity, power & tonal response  
> was drastically & wonderfully different than the original boring &  
> vanilla type sound this piano has always had.  It is a tremendous  
> advantage to have had opportunity to despise this particular piano  
> for 30 years & because I know it so well the subjective expereince  
> is greatly dimninished and objective observations become far more  
> focused.  Really cool.
>    In my shop the acoustic atmosphere is very dry & the tone is  
> very transparent so it's a challenge to make every thing satisfy my  
> ear in thsi environment.  If it does then the tonal output only  
> improves in the actual environment. Well.. usually.
>   This set of Wurzen felt was uncharacteristically soft & the piano  
> required a failry firm hammer density.  SO it wasn't the usual hang  
> em on & it's time to rock & roll.   However I did have the  
> oppurtunity to use Steinway style type voicing techniques in a  
> Japanese pianos & I tell you the results were Humbly beautiful &  
> satisfying. It frankly took a lot of juicing but in the end I could  
> stick needles in the hammers though it was not necessary. It  
> required several applications to get where I wanted to get tonally  
> & though many of you despise this technique the tone from this  
> method is hard to duplicate. The bass has bite & power , & the  
> treble has sustain power & dynamic round tone that the too thick  
> original board could not hope to produce. The sound floats out of  
> the piano with a shimmer & hangs in mid air.  How's that for  
> subjective? grin
>    This piano doesn't sound like any Yamaha I know & the customer  
> who has owned it's entire life is a fine player.  I'd say she was  
> overjoyed & thrilled to say the least.  I truly wish some of you  
> were here to experience this fun moment in time today.
>  Life is good
>   Blessings
>   Dale
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20060321/858e5374/attachment.html