Steinway casters

[Isaac sur Noos]

Thanks Garett,

Yes that is my first action on many grand's (and vertical as well), to
install rubber or isolation under the casters , particularly on noisy
floors (stone or wood). My test is to play basses standing without my
shoes in front of the piano, then I experience the sound in the floor.
The amelioration for the basses is immediate (less of the "barrel
tone")

The old (European ?) method to use glass casters under the rollers of
verticals and grand's make sense then, as the glass (or some kind of
glasses) is supposed to stop tone conduction totally.

I did not believe much in that but I've heard the difference on a
customer RX6 and yes the tone is way better (envelope definition) .
Unfortunately I guess those glass casters (or mineral glass ???) are
not available anymore these days , many where used in the pianists
home and workshops as ashtrays .

Talking about the rollers orientation I don't have yet any clear idea
on what kind of change we can expect changing the orientation of the
rollers, certainly a more direct tone and more action noise if they
are toward front, yes it looks like keyboard bedding to me !

Best Regards (Happy new year !)

Isaac OLEG
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : Garret E. Traylor [mailto:traylorg@equaltemperament.com]
> Envoye : jeudi 8 janvier 2004 22:22
> A : oleg-i@noos.fr; College and University Technicians
> Objet : RE: Steinway casters
>
>
> Quite a many years ago, when Fazioli first came to the US,
> and while I was
> living in Washington DC, I had occasion to invite Heiner
> Sandwald to conduct
> an all day seminar at David Hughes shop for our PTG chapters (DC and
> Baltimore).  Heiner has a wonderful philosophy about pianos
> ... so we were
> not opposed to ask what could we do to make sound better.
>
> Some months before our seminar at the National Convention,
> Fazioli had been
> displayed on a very elevated set of acrylic cylinders.  It
> was perceived by
> all that the sound of the instrument was awesome....some
> thought that it was
> because it was up in the air, some thought it was a killer
> instrument (which
> it was), and some thought that the castor cups had an influence.
>
> later....at Dave's shop this topic came up... Do castor
> cups help the sound?
> So, we experimented some with just normal hardwood castor
> cups; and "Yes"...
> the conclusion was that anything that helps keep sound in
> the piano (and out
> the soundboard) is going to help the piano have longer
> sustain...and make it
> sound better.
>
> Ever tried to hammer a nail into a piece of wood that was not well
> supported...it is hard to do.  Sound in a piano needs
> backing (grounding)
> like bedding actions do.  Sometimes the improvement can be profound
> especially when the piano legs are on a (relatively) soft material.
>
> We also concluded that with the massive weight of the larger pianos,
> orienting the castors will influence the tone and also the
> regulation.
>
> Kindest Regards,
> Garret
>
> Garret Traylor
> High Point Piano
> P.O. Box 6127
> High Point, N.C. 27262
> hpp@highpointpiano.com
> www.highpointpiano.com
> (336) 887-4266
>
>