[pianotech] Worst Bass/Tenor Crossover in Universe

[Encore Pianos]

Most of the recordings I have heard of this piano are at moderate volumes or
below, still you can hear the ugliness not far below the surface.  Why this
would be a feature necessary to good piano tone is a mystery to me also, I
hear it as a deficit.

I wasn't asking the question of adding bearing to this particular system, I
understand that it is designed to work with little or no bearing.  It does a
less than adequate job at that.  When I spoke of adding an agraffe bridge to
a conventional board, I was thinking of CC boards, rib crowned boards, or R,
C, & S boards.  All of these types of boards are designed to work as an
interdependent system, and can each be designed to function very well with
applied knowledge, good workmanship, and good materials.  So my question
really was, could an agraffe bridge be added to any of these systems and be
equal or superior to that same design with a conventionally notched and
pinned bridge, as well as be an improvement over what we have heard from
agraffe bridge designs in prior art?  

There may not be complete consensus on how we want a board to perform, but
there are many things within that many of us would agree upon.  I'm not sure
that consensus is necessary or at all times desirable, I like the idea of
many flavors.  For most of us, our beliefs and prejudices of what
constitutes good piano tone are heavily influenced by what has come before,
and how "good" piano tone has related to performance.  

Nothing is wrong with the current bridge pinning and notching system, when
done well.  When it is done right, it is everything I want to hear.  

The rub is that so many do it poorly, whether by deficiency of materials or
workmanship.  

It has been argued by some that the only thing that gives the Stuart its
sustain is the mass of those agraffes.  :-)

Will


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2013 7:06 AM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Worst Bass/Tenor Crossover in Universe

On 1/10/2013 5:30 AM, Encore Pianos wrote:

> To my ear,
> it falls short of being an improved system over the best "traditional"
> boards by a fair amount.

The board can be driven into chaos at surprisingly moderate attack levels
everywhere in the scale. I've been told repeatedly by techs who ought to
know better that this is a feature necessary to good piano sound, largely
because mine can't.

Adding bearing to these boards would improve nothing. They are just not
stiff enough.


> That said, could the Stuart or Phoenix agraffe be installed on a
> conventionally constructed board with compression, crown, and bearing
> skillfully blended together and sound very good in the ways we want a
> board to perform?  I believe so.

It depends on how we want a board to perform, I think. In my experience, 
there is very little resembling a consensus on what that is. There is 
also the mass of the agraffes to deal with, which will most certainly 
affect the performance. So tell me, what's so wrong with the current 
bridge pinning and notching system, if done well, that is inferior to 
agraffes?
Ron N