[CAUT] 1850's Pleyel Grand

[Richard Brekne]

Hi Fred.

hehe... I'd be delighted to be able to oblige, but in this case its 
already spoken for. But you open for a general discussion on just what 
the sound of these things was and how it came about.  I am, as I have 
stated in a couple other posts completely convinced that we are missing 
very very much in our discussions about rebuilding / soundboard designs 
etc.  Looking into the sound potential of these very low tension 
instruments with actions like the Bluthner Patent and the Viennese  
strikes me as an area with tremendous potential.  Essentially... 
development along these piano building philosophies started to die out 
about the time Steinway started to dominate in the late 1800's... and 
for all practical purposes has died completely out since perhaps about 
1920 or so. Only a handful of builders are experimenting with any kind 
of sound picture that significantly deviates from the classic Steinway 
sound of today.  Stuart probably the most visible of these.

There is something about the straight strung idea, with grain going more 
or less in the direction of the modern piano ribbing along with low 
tension that appeals to me... perhaps intuitively.  There seems much 
that could be pursued along these lines that has been either dropped or 
forgotten long ago.

Soundboard grain perpendicular to the long bridge provides a reasonable 
degree of stiffness and support to any downwards force (ie bending 
stress) from the strings. Ribs across the grain in this configuration 
could be designed pretty much from acoustic needs and not from load 
bearing needs.  If one wanted to provide more strength for higher 
downbearing levels then this configuration allows for there are most 
certainly a few avenues to research.

This instrument however... will just get what it needs to be tunable and 
playable and nothing more... at least for the present. 

Cheers and thanks for the encouragements

RicB


    Hi Ric,
        If you have second thoughts, send it over here. I'd love to have
    it. Not
    sure I could afford the shipping, though <G>.
        I'll put in a word for retaining the existing action and its various
    specs, as in ratio and weight (rebuild parts as needed, and
    replicate hammer
    weight/denstity). And string it with Pure Sound.
        I had a wonderful experience with a Pleyel from, I think, the
    early 20th
    century, 190-200 cm or so, this past May. Playing on it was a
    revelation,
    and I have played on thousands of instruments. I found I was able to
    simply
    "sing with my fingers," it was so easy to create subtle expressive
    shadings.
    Foreground/background, little crescendos and diminuendos, accents
    wherever I
    wanted them. I tried to analyze why (unfortunately I was a tourist, and
    lacked anything to take any measurements, besides being in the
    situation of
    a guest of a family, with very limited time and oppportunity), and
    came to
    the tentative conclusion that it was a combination of low hammer weight
    (strike weight, if you will) and high ratio. Whatever I would
    normally do on
    a modern American piano was magnified.
        At any rate, best of luck in restoring it to glory.
    Regards,
    Fred Sturm
    University of New Mexico