Hello list, It has been a very long time since I posted here. My regards to all. Last week, I went to tune an upright Forster from the 1920’s. I was told by the lady owner that the piano hadn't been tuned for years (sic!). The piano had tight pins, clean strings and was less than half a tone flat, so the tuning was not a problem. The lady also asked me if I could do something about the her piano’s muffled sound. I though driving there that the hammers were probably out of shape and I would likely be filing hammers. Yet the hammer heads had barely visible grooves. As the muffled sound was most offensive in the midrange section, I decided to see what the crown looked like. I removed the action and took a quick glance downwards behind the keybed before pulling my tack line out. This instrument has the worse negative crown I have ever seen. The measurement came to to -12 mm (around middle C). I have three questions: - I have seen references on this list to pianos designed with negative crown. Does anyone know if Forster made uprights with negative crown? - What makes a soundboard behave like this? I know string pressure will often flatten a soundboard with time, but -12mm?? - What can I do to give this piano a little life, short of a ribbing/board replacement job. The piano isn’t worth the expense, but the customer likes it very much nonetheless. Cheers, Jean-Jacques Granas Warsaw, Poland
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