Steinway Upright completed

[Alan Barnard]

Wow (as usual).



Alan Barnard

Salem, MO









Original message

From: Erwinspiano at aol.com

To: pianotech at ptg.org

Received: 4/17/2007 7:28:32 AM

Subject: Steinway Upright completed





HI All

  I sent thru some info on a restoration in process , an 1880's Steinway up., last month & said I'd report on the outcome.  I applied a rib crowned boared & made the panel in house from some very tight Sitka planks. The new board now has a belly bigger than mine. grin. Oh what a booming  sound before it was strung!!

    This scale has a bizarre 20 note bass & I changed the original  tenor string arrangement transition from 2 bichords 7 tri-chords to all bi-chords.  What a smooth & sonorous transition this turned out to be. The bass note 20 to tenor note 21 is the most noticeable but blends well & immediately by playing chromatically thru the section & then from note 27 to plain wire 28 is virtually invisible. I also eliminated the cantilever from the bass bridge set up.

  I just returned from the beach house where it was craned into. I had a chance to dial in the voicing & tuning in it's home location which is always waaaay different acoustically from my shop & the outcome tonally was very satisfying.  The trebles were very, very clear, with more sustain than any S&S upright I've ever encounterd. However this scale has the same strike line problems most Steinway grands  do & I had to alter the hammers line from f-5 thru F- 6 , moving them closer to the top termination by only about 2 mm but what a huge difference.

  The bass tonality is beautiful & the client who has not played on the refined & voiced version said it was a miraculous change.  Always good to hear this!   She plays well & has a very fussy pair of ears. I can't say the removal of the cantilever ,at least in this case was an improvement. It seemed like I could more easily change partial spectrum & it was a very robust bottom end/fundamental.

  The entire job was more expensive than we all thought but I did it for my own reasons. However Its' my last Stwy upright.  Way to much of Murphy's law at work plus the entire super structure was coming apart & was totally reglued & re-enforced.

  Hope this is interesting to some

  regards to all

  Dale Erwin R.P.T.



 



 Dale Erwin--Piano Restorations

4721 Parker rd

Modesto, Ca. 95357

Shop 209-577-8397

 Web site http://www.Erwinspiano.com 

Restoration & Sales of

Steinway & Sons & other fine pianos.

" Soundboards by Design"















See what's free at AOL.com. 
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