Ed continued: > The rim and belly are doing well. They are under compression, and well > braced. The pinblock bows in the center, because there is no support. Later > instruments had metal gap spacers to the belly rail. Not all originals had gapspacers. Some had a wooden gapspacer. > There's no room to add them in this instrument. *If* you want to add one it is generally not impossible, even as a retro-fit, to do so, and cram together the stirnging on either side. > If the new pinblock doesn't give at all, perhaps > there would be more stress on the sides of the case. I don't think that is an issue. > I do think it would be better to return to the original scale unless > there is historical evidence for the higher tension scale. I'm not sure how > I could research this. As I said last message send me the stringing data and I'll put it into my spreadheet. > I know Delignit isn't a historic material. From what I understand, this > particular model is not held in high esteem by current fortepianists. It's > owner would ideally replace it with something more historically up-to-date, > but can't afford it. Is that the pinblock material at the moment? Whatever repair is eventually done, differences in material cost will turn out to be negligible. It is pretty much negligible in the cost factoring for an original reproduction, too. Money all goes to the labour. With this Zucky piano authenticity is a secondary issue, since it is a modern hybrid by design anyway. It is more important to adapt and get a good tone out of it. Rememeber it is over-built, not under-built, and tends to sound constipated. > The original builder of this instrument, who is now a > top name in the field, refuses to repair it, as it is below his current > standards of authenticity. Tell us who that is. Such a repair should not be refused (barring time constraints), unless they don't think they can improve it, and are advising the owner that the repair is not justified. > So, if I can make it work again, I can live with the loss of authenticity. Definitely the _main_ issue - make it sound better. > I think if stiffer pinblock material makes a difference, it would > increase power and sustain a little, probably not very much in this > instrument. I think you need to analyse the instrument as a whole to see where efforts would best be addressed and moeny spent. Stephen Stephen Birkett Fortepianos Authentic Reproductions of 18th and 19th Century Pianos 464 Winchester Drive Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2T 1K5 tel: 519-885-2228 mailto: sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca
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