[pianotech] Tuning the duplex sections

[Andrew Anderson]

Typically unisons that fade when in unison are on pianos that sound  
like a bucket full of glass...

Andrew Anderson

On Mar 15, 2011, at 6:32 PM, John Delacour wrote:

> At 07:41 -0500 15/03/2011, Andrew Anderson wrote:
>
>> In my experience when a piano is well tuned, power and sustain  
>> improves.  (There are some pianos where a well-tuned unison rapidly  
>> fades, presuming that isn't what we are talking about.)  In your  
>> example you said the piano was near pitch but not in-tune if I  
>> understood correctly.  Maybe this is where the difference lies...?
>
> I'm certainly going to defer judgement of any kind until the piano  
> is first tuned and then restrung and restored.  One thing is sure  
> and that is that the bass strings are not helping because most of  
> them have gone tubby after a mere 150 years!  All the same it has  
> the makings of a very fine piano.
>
> What Ron says about bright toning diminishing the 'bloom' also rings  
> true with me.  Bright toning has a bad effect on the development and  
> decay of the sound of a single note, so it follows that the whole  
> thing would be badly affected.
>
> At 07:20 -0700 15/03/2011, David Love wrote:
>> Yamaha boards are relatively much heavier than Steinway boards.   
>> Their
>> ability to be driven requires a much higher tension scale and heavier
>> hammer.  The higher tension scale with greater stiffness (or more  
>> mass or
>> both) may not react as easily to the feedback loop of energy being
>> transmitted back to the strings.
>
> I'd say the scale tension and the soundboard mass are two separate  
> issues.  The piano that exhibited this 'bloom' effect in the most  
> striking degree to me 20 years ago or so had a high tension scale  
> and a very efficient and unYamaha-like soundboard.  This was a 6'3"  
> Brinsmead and I now have another of the same model that needs a lot  
> of work and which at the moment is very dull and uninteresting. It's  
> probably that a combination of several factors contributes to this  
> effect, and an efficient soundboard is crucial, but most pianos,  
> like Yamaha and tons of others are going to be soulless whatever you  
> do with them.
>
> JD
>
> PS.  Did I mention that I don't like Yahamas?
>