Kent, Superb recording...I can see why it is one of your favorite pianos...the clarity in the treble is particularly beautiful! Congratulation on your work... Regarding a manufacturers rights.... I had a lengthy conversation with someone at the S & S factory in NY about if it would be possible to sue a re-builder if they radically changed an instrument and still had 'Steinway and Sons' on the fall board... The usual sigh was emitted with the answer that once it has left the factory anything is fair game.... We can all acknowledge mistakes of the past due to bad R& D etc, and I understand the premise to 'make it work' in any way you can, but it seems to me that many out there are throwing the baby out with the bath water, re-engineering instead of fitting....using non manufacturers hammers because they 'sound good out of the box'....and some ghastly re designs that bear no resemblance to the manufacturers intentions... Some who post here are plainly out of their depth in dealing with concert instruments...many are masters....most fall in between.... Quite simply, to answer a technician who has not fit a hammer to a string properly, with a diatribe about how the duplex is the scourge of the universe and should be ground down, is nuts and should be condemned by all...... Windmill tilting is not a favorite pastime, but unearthing technical twaddle is......more please... P On May 30, 2010, at 1:56 PM, Kent Swafford wrote: > Feeling the need to tilt at windmills? Tilt on! > > BTW, some time back I posted a link to a recording of a Steinway D on which I had hung NY Steinway hammers. The link is still good: > > http://tinyurl.com/ya7xw3c > > I had a hand in the first recording on the page, a recording of > Ravel: Miroirs from > University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance > > The particular piano heard in the recording, a ten year old D, is one my favorite pianos in the world. > > Mr. Sumner, what "credibility" would PTG have if it blindly accepted every manufacturer "production and design" as inviolable? PTG members have made great contributions with regard to servicing specific makes and models of pianos, and will, I am sure, continue to make those contributions. > > > Kent > > > On May 30, 2010, at 2:39 PM, Peter Sumner wrote: > >> It seems that there is an element within the PTG who either hold or have held high office and advise or have advised etc in various capacities and hold views of a technical nature at odds with manufacturers production and design...shame on them... >> This diminishes the credibility of the PTG to such an extent that some manufacturers must just smile and shake their heads. >> This is indeed one of the many cases of Emperor's New Clothes...and I know non of the above will be in the least stirred by my humble comments...but WHY do they get voted into such positions?....I bet they can even see Russia from their houses... >> >> I'm sure all these characters have, like me, tuned, voiced and regulated dozens, even hundreds of fine concert instruments....many times being complimented on the work and the sound of the piano by an artist of note....If only those pianos had been re-engineered, or had non standard hammers...or even weird holes in the soundboard.....of course they would have sounded SO much better..., >> >> As a solution to the 'nasty overtone' issue...I suggest considering deep shoulder needling, tapping down the termination points, tapping down either side of the duplex bridges, shifting the wires left and right to iron out any ridging in the capo bar, checking the shape of the hammer head, checking if the tri-chord is level, fitting the hammer to the string PROPERLY.... >> Incidentally, all this work should be done on every note....If done properly, there will be much more focus and power.... >> >> I guess I would ask why NY hammers are not being used....but given the amazing lack of respect paid to manufacturers wishes on this forum I guess it is too much to ask... >> >> Let loose the dogs of war..... >> >> P >> >> >> >> >> On May 30, 2010, at 7:53 AM, Kent Swafford wrote: >> >>> Exactly, Mr. Sumner. Heed your own words, please. >>> >>> Kent Swafford >>> >>> >>> On May 30, 2010, at 9:31 AM, Peter Sumner wrote: >>> >>>> I'm sure I'm not the first to tell you that you are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts. >>> >> >
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