Steinway B tenor conversion report

[Bob Hull]

Last week I completed the conversion of four plain
tenor trichords to wound bichords on a late 1970's
model B in a church.  These four lowest notes of the
tenor had a significant "thonk" type of sound.  The
pianist of the church called me to see what I could do
about this part of the scale.  

I ordered the strings from Arledge according to sizes
that Ron Nossaman provided for me.  It was a good job
to add hitch pins at precisely the right location that
I mapped out, switch from trichord to bichord
agraffes, install the new strings, and switch the
damper felts to bichord wedges.  Also, replaced the
understring felt in the porthole.

The sound was initially improved about 30-40% over the
original.  The new strings rendered the tone fairly
meek.  After pounding the hammers in and voicing the
strings somewhat, I gave the piano a few days and some
playing time by the pianist to see what the tone would
do.  It became a little bit stronger.  To add some
attack and immediacy to the tone I added
keytop/acetone.  Followed up with some needling and
more improvement was realized.  

I would say that now the improvement over the original
is about 50% and may get even a little better yet. 
The customer is happy.  I appreciate the help of
people like Ron N. and others on this list who help
our learning to zoom along rather than creep.
  
Happily,
Bob Hull


       
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