[CAUT] PIano Duo: S&S D and Baldwin SD-10 ?!

[RicB]

Hi

Sounds like to begin with if you are going to get a Baldwin SD which is 
outpaced by a Boston upright ready to compete with any kind of decent 
concert grand at all you have a fairly time consuming project in front 
of you.  I'm not familiar with Baldwins own version of the front 
duplex... but in general noises coming from these are caused by poor 
termination characteristics by the capo, an inappropriate counterbearing 
angle for whatever the intended capo profile and hardness parameters are 
supposed to be, and / or lengths that are harmonic to the speaking lengths.

There is one trick I've recently discovered that works really good in 
the short term.  Bend a bridge pin of medium thickness into a narrow "U" 
shape and insert it into the space between the outside two strings and 
the middle so that it is in solid contact with all three strings of the 
unison. Squeeze the outside two together abit at the counterbearing if 
you need to in order to secure very tight fit.  In contrast to using 
felt to mute the over active duplex... this simply adds mass and couples 
the three together... effectively storing and reflecting the over active 
duplex energy back to the speaking length.  I've measured an increase in 
sustain on the level of 3-5% in some cases and at least some definite 
increase (if ever so slight) in every single instance I've used this 
trick.  I stumbled onto this just a couple months ago and havent really 
mentioned anything about it because I'm still scratching my head myself 
about it.... but at this point I'm ready to advise folks to give it a 
try and see what happens.

In the end tho... a proper functioning front duplex needs a good profile 
that allows the string to flex across the capo as opposed to bend across 
it under vibration, an appropriate counterbearing angle, and an 
inharmonic to the speaking length front length. And you have to string 
down the instrument to get at those parameters.

Thats my 2 cents anyways....

Cheers
RicB



    I've got some tuning coming up for piano days here in Laredo.  They
    want to do some duos and use the two resident concert grands
    together.  Bit of a mis-match if you ask me...  I'll encourage
    bringing another D over from another local venue but...I'll probably
    be stuck with tuning the Baldwin to the D.

    Here's the rub.  The Baldwin has those proprietary front duplex
    thingamajigs and the shrieking and buzzing are just plain shrill and
    nasty.  They are all over the place angle-wise so I haven't figured
    out a rhyme or reason for their positions.  Does anyone know how to
    tame these or shall I just stuff that all full of felt for the
    concert at hand?  Wondered about trickling CA glue in around the
    thingamajigs to see if that would help but it would be a nuisance to
    clean up if I had to.  For those of you who wonder, the Baldwin was
    replaced by the D and banished to the choir room where it plays
    second fiddle to a Boston upright.  Has great stability and good tone
    for the most part except the treble.

    Open to ideas, hopefully expertise.

    Andrew Anderson, Artisan Piano