One of the problems with assessing tension in scales is illustrated by the data below. The plain wire sections of the original scales on two pianos are listed: Steinway B and Knabe 6'4". You can see that the range within each piano is fairly broad. Ever wonder why you had such a voicing problem getting the low end of the tenor section to blend well with the bass on a Steinway B? On the Knabe you can see that the tensions range from a low of 138 to a high of 209 lbs. Both of these pianos received a bit of scale alteration. David Love davidlovepianos at comcast.net www.davidlovepianos.com Knabe 6'4" Note # Length mm Wire Size Tension lbs C# - 3 29 1065.0 19.5 151 D - 3 30 1035.0 19.5 160 D# - 3 31 1005.0 19.0 161 E - 3 32 970.0 19.0 169 F - 3 33 938.0 18.5 169 F# - 3 34 901.0 18.5 175 G - 3 35 865.0 18.0 173 G# - 3 36 825.0 18.0 176 A - 3 37 785.0 17.5 170 A# - 3 38 747.0 17.5 173 B - 3 39 707.0 17.5 174 C - 4 40 667.0 17.5 174 C# - 4 41 629.0 17.5 174 D - 4 42 594.0 17.0 165 D# - 4 43 557.0 17.0 163 E - 4 44 524.0 17.0 162 F - 4 45 492.0 17.0 160 F# - 4 46 464.0 17.0 160 G - 4 47 444.0 16.5 156 G# - 4 48 427.0 16.5 162 A - 4 49 411.0 16.0 160 A# - 4 50 395.0 16.0 166 B - 4 51 380.0 16.0 172 C - 5 52 365.0 16.0 178 C# - 5 53 350.0 16.0 184 D - 5 54 334.0 16.0 188 D# - 5 55 320.0 15.5 184 E - 5 56 305.0 15.5 187 F - 5 57 290.0 15.5 190 F# - 5 58 276.0 15.5 193 G - 5 59 264.0 15.5 198 G# - 5 60 251.0 15.5 201 A - 5 61 239.0 15.0 194 A# - 5 62 228.0 15.0 198 B - 5 63 217.0 15.0 201 C - 6 64 207.0 15.0 205 C# - 6 65 196.0 15.0 207 D - 6 66 186.0 15.0 209 D# - 6 67 176.0 14.5 198 E - 6 68 166.0 14.5 198 F - 6 69 155.0 14.5 194 F# - 6 70 145.0 14.5 190 G - 6 71 136.0 14.5 188 G# - 6 72 128.0 14.5 187 A - 6 73 121.0 14.5 187 A# - 6 74 113.0 14.0 173 B - 6 75 105.0 14.0 167 C - 4 76 99.0 14.0 167 C# - 7 77 93.0 14.0 165 D - 7 78 87.0 14.0 162 D# - 7 79 82.0 13.5 152 E - 7 80 77.0 13.5 151 F - 7 81 72.0 13.5 148 F# - 7 82 68.0 13.5 148 G - 7 83 63.0 13.5 143 G# - 7 84 60.0 13.5 145 A - 7 85 57.0 13.0 138 A# - 7 86 54.0 13.0 139 B - 7 87 51.0 13.0 139 C - 8 88 48.0 13.0 139 Steinway B F - 2 21 1474 20.0 120 F# - 2 22 1444 20.0 129 G - 2 23 1416 19.0 127 G# - 2 24 1382 19.0 136 A - 2 25 1342 19.0 144 A# - 2 26 1311 19.0 154 B - 2 27 1277 19.0 164 C - 3 28 1219 18.0 153 C# - 3 29 1172 18.0 158 D - 3 30 1111 18.0 160 D# - 3 31 1061 18.0 164 E - 3 32 1012 18.0 167 F - 3 33 960 18.0 169 F# - 3 34 911 18.0 171 G - 3 35 864 18.0 172 G# - 3 36 819 17.0 157 A - 3 37 776 17.0 158 A# - 3 38 735 17.0 159 B - 3 39 697 17.0 161 C - 4 40 658 17.0 161 C# - 4 41 621 17.0 161 D - 4 42 590 17.0 163 D# - 4 43 557 17.0 163 E - 4 44 525 17.0 163 F - 4 45 498 17.0 164 F# - 4 46 470 17.0 164 G - 4 47 445 17.0 165 G# - 4 48 422 16.5 158 A - 4 49 401 16.5 161 A# - 4 50 382 16.5 164 B - 4 51 363 16.5 166 C - 5 52 333 16.5 157 C# - 5 53 320 16.0 154 D - 5 54 306 16.0 158 D# - 5 55 295 16.0 165 E - 5 56 282 16.0 169 F - 5 57 268 16.0 171 F# - 5 58 252 16.0 170 G - 5 59 240 15.5 164 G# - 5 60 228 15.5 166 A - 5 61 217 15.5 169 A# - 5 62 205 15.5 169 B - 5 63 194 15.5 170 C - 6 64 185 15.5 173 C# - 6 65 175 15.0 165 D - 6 66 166 15.0 166 D# - 6 67 157 15.0 167 E - 6 68 150 15.0 171 F - 6 69 138 15.0 163 F# - 6 70 131 15.0 164 G - 6 71 126 14.5 161 G# - 6 72 120 14.5 164 A - 6 73 113 14.5 163 A# - 6 74 107 14.5 164 B - 6 75 102 14.0 158 C - 4 76 96 14.0 157 C# - 7 77 91 14.0 158 D - 7 78 85 14.0 155 D# - 7 79 81 13.5 149 E - 7 80 76 13.5 147 F - 7 81 72 13.5 148 F# - 7 82 68 13.5 148 G - 7 83 65 13.0 143 G# - 7 84 61 13.0 141 A - 7 85 57 13.0 138 A# - 7 86 55 13.0 144 B - 7 87 53 13.0 150 C - 8 88 52 13.0 163 -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Erwinspiano at aol.com Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 7:14 AM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: Re: High tension? Low? Board stiffness? was Hammer Types Hi Alan You asked about 20 questions but I'm answering only a couple. Ronsen Wurzen hammers are very consistent. I base this on having used a dozen or more sets. SO the difference is in the soundboard system/scaling/down bearing etc. I think of high tension low tension in terms of plain wire. Steinway scales , models S,M,l,O & the A's as 160 ish lbs per string on the plain wire. Models B,C,D have higher tension in the 180's or higher or tensions that spike high like the C into the 190's. Other scale heads will have more to offer than this. As far as no. of ribs in general the more the merrier. Rather have too much support than not enough. You have to start paying attention to this stuff so you can begin to draw some general conclusion your self. How many ribs how tall etc. where are the cut outs. And remember most of the boards you will see are compression crowned so how do you quantify that? Not! Dale's general rule of thumb is that the stiffer the hammer requeiremnts the stiffer the soundboard & vice verse. On the Wurzens you thought needed a thin dilution of juice. The lightest solution would probably give you enough of what you were after without adverse effect or wait for a years hard playing. So may question so little time Dale -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20061020/bd2a5cc2/attachment-0001.html
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