Re-Post .. building pianos

[Richard Brekne]

Got to thinking about this basic request and some of the replies coming 
in.  And thought I'd drop the following thoughts out there. To begin 
with I'd have to say to our friend Lorenzo that there are several bits 
that make investing 2-3 grand worth while... and several bits that speak 
against it.  On the down side... chances are you'll have a hard time 
making much of a profit... tho you never know until you know as it 
were.  On the up side...  the discussion gets complicated (and 
inseresting) real quick.

I'd start by saying that a successful soundboard replacement, just like 
a successful tuning is perhaps best judged by to what degree you 
accomplished what you set out to do.  That statement in no small degree 
implies a large degree of knowledge and understanding of exactly what 
you are trying to accomplish.  And that can be a lot of things.... it 
can be very specific acoustic goals, or it can be a matter of wanting to 
learn more about a thing or process.  In the world of Soundboard 
making... even specific acoustic goals can take wildly variant courses.  
Some are after a very clearly defined sound... others are after a 
clearly defined field of sound variances.  Goals vary even within 
similar goals. I suspect that even the most well contrived system will 
require tweaking to a degree that asserts the implied reality in the 
later.  That reality being that there is no <<one sound>>... or even 
better sound. There is only what any given individual likes at any given 
time. The only other criteria I know of that is worth its salt is what a 
statistical analysis of thousands of pianists and/or listeners tend to 
go for.  Both are full of intangibles that in the end boil down to a 
substantial handful of magic no matter which way you turn it.

I gave up a good while back thinking along the lines that this or the 
other type of piano sound is to be preferred over the other.  The cold 
harsh fact is that tho the piano world has chosen the Steinway sound as 
standard by which all others are set for the past 100 years or so... the 
variance factor of keyboard lovers out there is so enormously large that 
even that standard becomes of only limited value at best. Witness 
Stéphans post of just a few days ago. There are many many many pianists 
out there that just love that kind of sound field.  I run into it all 
the time... this piano or that piano that I personally think is junk is 
simply adored by its owner or some pianist or another.  Or take my 
recent experience with the Grieg S&S B.  At a lower pitch the thing 
simply opened up and sang like a Nightingale (to my ears).  Others found 
the lower pitch itself to be a problem... the instrument was simply out 
of tune to them... still others found the quality of sound that changed 
to be anything but desirable. Some of these probably because the 
instrument SHOULD sound old and harsh.. because well.. its old.  Others 
because perhaps they are used to the thing the way it was and any change 
is a problem for them... otherse perhaps just because it did not suit 
their taste. 

Which leads into a whole wasp nest of observation we can make about 
piano sound in general. Some designers make a very large point out of 
sustain time in the upper treble region... from just below the so called 
killer octave through it and on upwards there seems to be this 
inexplicable compulsion to create as long as a sustain time as one can.  
Anything even hinting at being short and percussive is viewed by these 
as a negative.  Yet back to our world of variant piano sound lovers... 
it turns out that there is this absolutely huge bulk of pianists that 
actually love that exact kind of sound. 

So... I'd say if your interested in rebuilding the Sohmer.... do it.  
Learn from it.... dont just copy whats there and hope for the best... 
try and figure out what was done and why... and decide if you want to go 
in that same direction or try and make a couple turns to the left or 
right... or whether or not you want to do a complete turn around.  
Strikes me that no matter how good you get at this.... in the end you do 
it because of the love of the instrument... not because you expect to 
get rich and famous.  If you DO get rich... well I suppose thats a 
possible cool thing... I'm less sure about the famous bit :)

Cheers
RicB