Mr. Breakall, I maintain a Steinway D in a large main concert hall and it had a weak "melody" octave. Professional pianist's who came to play on the piano were never pleased with what they could get out of the instrument and it eventually reached a crisis point when an artist said it was not satisfactory to use. The management started renting a piano for big events and everyone believed a new piano was needed. Meanwhile, I replaced the hammers for a second time ( the first set of Steinway hammers I put on did not work out so well for me!!), and I installed a tone resonator. The new set of hammers I was able to juice up hard enough to bring out as much power as the piano had to give, and the tone resonator really worked amazingly well to take care of the problem with the lack of resonance and sustain in the problem treble ( melody) area. Even though everyone had dismissed the piano as unacceptable, eventually renting became too expensive to do all the time and the Steinway was put to some use again. The major causes for complaints had really been solved and there have been no serious complaints about the piano since the work was done. Now, they don't rent anymore and usually use this instrument for important piano concerto performances. The tone resonator was pretty easy to install and sure beat the cost of a new instrument!!! Hope this helps, Sincerely, Russell Schmidt - Piano Technician UK School of Music ________________________________________ From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of caut-request at ptg.org [caut-request at ptg.org] Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 3:00 PM To: caut at ptg.org Subject: CAUT Digest, Vol 5, Issue 79 Send CAUT mailing list submissions to caut at ptg.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://ptg.org/mailman/listinfo/caut_ptg.org or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to caut-request at ptg.org You can reach the person managing the list at caut-owner at ptg.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of CAUT digest..." Today's Topics: 1. wax on Steinway D (Paul T Williams) 2. question (Breakall, Raymond) 3. Re: question (Porritt, David) 4. Re: wax on Steinway D (Jon Page) 5. Re: wax on Steinway D (Paul T Williams) 6. Re: agraffe leveling (Fred Sturm) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:13:35 -0500 From: Paul T Williams <pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu> Subject: [CAUT] wax on Steinway D To: caut at ptg.org Message-ID: <OFF10794A5.18355C72-ON86257589.005322D3-86257589.00539C60 at unl.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi Everyone, Last Saturday, some students thought it a good idea to set something made of wax (can't prove it was candles) on the lid of one of our Steinway D's.(1970' or early 80's era with satin-lacquer finish) I'm now to try to remove it leaving a decent finish on it. It also has millions of fingerprints. Would something like Simple Green diluted and a lot of elbow grease be my best cleaning and polishing method in this case? Another question just for information sakes; The finish on the lid, instead of the small alligator crackling, has very large and long sort of pattern similar to alligatoring on it. Causes for this???? Thanks Paul -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20090330/aaa064ea/attachment-0001.html> ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:29:37 -0400 From: "Breakall, Raymond" <rbreakal at richmond.edu> Subject: [CAUT] question To: "caut at ptg.org" <caut at ptg.org> Message-ID: <DB1DF332AFC21544BA642BA6B7D4654D0E59FF245B at UREXCHANGESCC.richmond.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Fellow techs, I have a S&S D that has a weak melody octave and wondered about opinions of the "treble tone resonator" that Pianotek sells for a solution to the problem. Thanks Ray Ray Breakall Piano Technician University of Richmond (804) 287-6342 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20090330/43931efd/attachment-0001.html> ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:45:55 -0500 From: "Porritt, David" <dporritt at mail.smu.edu> Subject: Re: [CAUT] question To: "caut at ptg.org" <caut at ptg.org> Message-ID: <78F73DAE2483A747AD0E4A3BE57169DA175CD5AFFB at SXMBXA.systems.smu.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Ray: I've heard good things about them but have not heard one myself. I did improve that area of one of our Ds by putting on a couple of Darrell Fandrich's "riblets". I installed 2 between two regular ribs in that problem area. It's a tough area to work on - particularly lying on your back under the piano and probably would be easier with the piano on its side. The downside of that would be hearing the difference the riblet made without putting the piano back on its legs. In this case people who had no idea that I had done anything, noticed the change and commented (positive comments!). dave David M. Porritt, RPT dporritt at smu.edu From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Breakall, Raymond Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 10:30 AM To: caut at ptg.org Subject: [CAUT] question Fellow techs, I have a S&S D that has a weak melody octave and wondered about opinions of the "treble tone resonator" that Pianotek sells for a solution to the problem. Thanks Ray Ray Breakall Piano Technician University of Richmond (804) 287-6342 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20090330/b44d839b/attachment-0001.html> ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:47:34 -0400 From: Jon Page <jonpage at comcast.net> Subject: Re: [CAUT] wax on Steinway D To: caut at ptg.org Message-ID: <a0624080cc5f6a773e7ad@[192.168.0.168]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Usually a credit card (fake mail promos) chips off wax without damaging the finish. Is your wax in the form of drops.pools or a smear from dragging or imprint. Dilute Simple Green wiped off immediately works well for cleaning grime and finger prints but I don't think it will remove a wax film. -- Regards, Jon Page ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:50:23 -0500 From: Paul T Williams <pwilliams4 at unlnotes.unl.edu> Subject: Re: [CAUT] wax on Steinway D To: caut at ptg.org Message-ID: <OFAD02AC87.614D2E8D-ON86257589.005C6920-86257589.005C78E6 at unl.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" More like smears as if someone tried to "wipe" off the flakes after the spillage of what-ever kind it was.... PW Jon Page <jonpage at comcast.net> Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org 03/30/2009 11:48 AM Please respond to caut at ptg.org To caut at ptg.org cc Subject Re: [CAUT] wax on Steinway D Usually a credit card (fake mail promos) chips off wax without damaging the finish. Is your wax in the form of drops.pools or a smear from dragging or imprint. Dilute Simple Green wiped off immediately works well for cleaning grime and finger prints but I don't think it will remove a wax film. -- Regards, Jon Page -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut_ptg.org/attachments/20090330/e8270799/attachment-0001.html> ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:54:53 -0600 From: Fred Sturm <fssturm at unm.edu> Subject: Re: [CAUT] agraffe leveling To: David Ilvedson <ilvey at sbcglobal.net>, caut at ptg.org Message-ID: <6A930793-56B9-464C-880C-637E0E974746 at unm.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes On Mar 26, 2009, at 10:05 AM, David Ilvedson wrote: > I was attempting to level the strings on a newer Yam C6 the other > day. According to Goss's leveling device, all the tenor agraffes > were way off. I tried pulling up the left string to level but > couldn't make enough of a difference. A bad batch of agraffe > drilling? I guess in this situation you have to fit the hammer to > what you've got? > > David Ilvedson, RPT > Pacifica, CA 94044 Hi David, To amplify a bit on what Joe wrote, usually if the agraffes are drilled (or possibly it has to do with installation and how the threads and plate affect the final position) so that the holes are slanted, you can still get the strings into one plane. Meaning they slant relative to "level" (the bubble isn't centered), but when you pluck them, all are muted equally. Then, when you mate the hammer, you will probably find that you need a subtle slant to the filing of the top of the hammer. But this is still much better than having one string higher or lower than the other two. First, you don't have to do strange custom filing, making some parts of the crown higher than the other. And second, what you have done should work in una corda position as well, as the slanted hammer will line up with the slanted string plane in both positions. Regards, Fred Sturm University of New Mexico fssturm at unm.edu ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ CAUT mailing list CAUT at ptg.org http://ptg.org/mailman/listinfo/caut_ptg.org End of CAUT Digest, Vol 5, Issue 79 ***********************************
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