[CAUT] Steinway "sound"

[David Love]

Couldn't agree more.  

 

David Love

www.davidlovepianos.com

 

From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Fred
Sturm
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 4:42 PM
To: caut at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Steinway "sound"

 

On Feb 17, 2011, at 1:37 PM, David Love wrote:





While I agree with this generally and also have experienced the effects
first hand I have to add a caution about throwing the baby out with the
bath, so to speak.

 

Yes, absolutely. But I think that for the most part on this list and on
pianotech previously, there has been a purely one-sided presentation of
these things and thought I should provide a cautionary counter-story. We, as
cauts, are in the position of deciding or helping to decide about our
concert instruments, whether replacement or rebuilding/remanufacture. It has
been stated often, and correctly IMO, that remanufacture is a perfectly
acceptable alternative - with the proviso that whoever is doing that work is
competent. (One can argue that in any case it is a bit of a crap shoot, as
one can't predict outcomes precisely, but let's leave that to the side). 

            Another opinion often stated is that it is especially beneficial
to remanufacture with redesign, and the claim or inference is that one will
always end up with better than the manufacturer's output, because these
redesign elements are based on sound engineering, etc. And all I am saying
is it ain't necessarily so. Maybe sometimes, maybe if it is done by someone
who knows how to balance things, but it is also quite possible that the sum
of all those "improvements" ends up being a negative. Sometimes, not always.


            Bottom line, one should look before leaping, investigate
references, look personally at previous work, have your own faculty do the
same, etc. 

            I am all for experimentation, for challenging assumptions and
common practices. But I am also painfully aware that the most logical and
consistent model in the world is no substitute for the real world, and it is
in the real world that we live. A lot of things look good on paper, sound
good as ideas, but don't actually work, or not nearly as well as expected;
or they have unexpected side effects.

Regards,

Fred Sturm

fssturm at unm.edu

http://www.youtube.com/fredsturm

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/caut.php/attachments/20110217/b66a311d/attachment-0001.htm>