[CAUT] Steinway selection

[Horace Greeley]

Hi, David,

At 09:30 PM 2/18/2011, you wrote:
>I think it depends.  A compression crowned belly that comes out of the
>factory too stiff can open up and blossom over time and a few seasonal
>swings.  One that doesn't crown up well and comes out a bit loose and flabby
>just tends to just get worse.  One that comes out just right doesn't tend to
>stay there forever.  One things seems certain, over time they don't get
>stiffer.

Absolutely.

Sadly, the "stock" solution seems to be simply either putting on much 
harder hammers or hardening up whatever happens to be 
there.  Neither, of course, is going to do anything other than make a 
bad situation worse.

Best.

Horace



>David Love
>www.davidlovepianos.com
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of
>Douglas E. Wood
>Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 8:12 PM
>To: caut at ptg.org
>Subject: Re: [CAUT] Steinway selection
>
>My misunderstanding. Though my (not always reliable) memory is of far more
>bellies opening up in a good way over the first few years, than in a
>negative way. One notable D finally came fully into its own nearly 12 years
>in.! Of course I do live where the humidity changes are relatively few and
>small. And I do know that hostile environments CAN diminish a good belly
>pretty fast...
>
>But then there is the problem of anticipating the maturation of the piano.
>That's not a trivial skill, either. But it is learnable.
>
>Doug