I like that "a vintage 1977", makes me feel old :-) As Ron mentioned, these assessments really need to be made at the piano and in this case with samples and with the customer's own tonal goals and attitudes in mind. That being said, as soundboards get weaker, they get louder and sustain diminishes (unless they turn to stone and get stiffer and therefore quieter with better sustain--haven't met that one yet though). So likely the hammer needed won't have to be as hard or heavy (or both) as the original in order to generate the same volume. Also, louder at attack, in this case, means diminished perception of the length of the sustain phase. I'm not sure that the actual measured sustain will diminish as the rate at which the board dissipates energy is not influenced by the hammer necessarily. However, one of the essential goals in setting up the "voice" of the piano is to find the best balance between the attack envelope and sustain phase. On older boards, that usually means reducing the level of the attack, i.e. somewhat softer and/or lighter hammer. David Love davidlovepianos at comcast.net www.davidlovepianos.com -----Original Message----- From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Conrad Hoffsommer Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 8:15 AM To: Pianotech List Subject: Re: yamaha rebuild On 10/23/08, David Love <davidlovepianos at comcast.net> wrote: > I've found those older blocks don't > hold up that well and since replacing the block isn't that big a deal, I'd > probably do it. I'd be careful about hammer selection as the board is > likely much weaker than it was at the outset and may not tolerate as hard a > hammer as the original. I'm considering restringing w/pinblock (actually: pinblock - necessitating restringing) on a 1977 vintage C7. Should I consider "leaner" hammers for it, too? The thing does _NOT_ lack for volume. -- Conrad Hoffsommer, RPT Luther College Decorah, IA
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