[CAUT] Piano truck acoustics

[Paul T Williams]

Aren't they really spendy? Like $1,500 a set?

All our concert pianos are on trucks. One hall that seats 250 has a D, the 
main recital hall, seating 750 has a D, Baldwin D and a Yamaha C-3, and 
the Lied Center, seats 2,200 and has a D and a B.  The small hall has tile 
floor, the middle one is on wood stage, and the Lied is one of those 
multipurpose black rubbery floors.  How much projection might be lost on 
the tile floor? Rubbery floor?  I imagine the wood stage floor helps 
somewhat.  They get pushed around constantly and I doubt if I could talk 
the stage hands into having brass casters.  The professors would all vote 
for the casters...

Here I am,... stuck in the middle with you.

Paul




Dan Reed <pianoarts at tx.rr.com> 
Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org
03/20/2009 09:50 AM
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Great observation....The trucks metal members and the rubber tires 
flex, and damp energy from  two directions... energy from the musician, 
and the reflected energy from the soundboard.

Dan Reed
Dallas, Tx


On Mar 20, 2009, at 9:22 AM, Porritt, David wrote:

> I agree with you.  We had the same situation in years past (Yamaha on 
> big brass casters, Steinway on truck) but then last summer we got the 
> big casters for the Steinway.  In addition to looking nicer and 
> rolling better it sounds better too.  Since you can't realistically do 
> a side-by-side comparison it's difficult to "prove" but I'm convinced.
>
> dp
>
> David M. Porritt, RPT
> dporritt at smu.edu
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of 
> Zeno Wood
> Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 9:14 AM
> To: College and University Technicians
> Subject: [CAUT] Piano truck acoustics
>
> I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the acoustic qualities of
> a piano truck versus having rubber or metal casters.  We have a
> Steinway D (on a truck) in our recital hall that sounds big when
> you're sitting at it, but doesn't sound as big when you're 30 feet
> back, in the audience.  But the Yamaha with big honking metal casters
> doesn't sound as big up close, but sounds bigger from the audience.
> Thoughts?
>
> Or am I barking up the wrong tree?
>
> Thanks,
> Zeno Wood
> Brooklyn College
>
>



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