[CAUT] Lacquered hammers

[Fred Sturm]

On Feb 19, 2011, at 11:20 AM, Ron Nossaman wrote:

>  A one-off redesign, with no previous iteration is, however,  
> expected to be all things to everyone, and absolutely perfect under  
> the closest scrutiny. It's also, somehow, expected to be just like  
> the original, only better somehow. Civilians are great. They tend to  
> recognize the merits and usually really love the sound. The most  
> common phrase I hear is "It makes me sound better than I am". It's  
> the techs who have a large portion of their lives invested in  
> disguising, justifying, and finally glorifying the toad's warts that  
> they couldn't disguise that are the core of the lack of progress.  
> I've watched the state of the art being relentlessly dragged back  
> into the stone age for the last week on this list, and I think it's  
> a shame.


	Civilians versus techs? I think that in the practical world, it is  
largely due to techs that concert instruments have been sent for re- 
design/re-manufacture. These techs have put their own reputations on  
the line, either persuading the faculty/administration/department that  
this is a good idea, or at least blessing the process - probably it  
has been the initiative of the tech in most instances. So the tech has  
zero incentive to undercut the result.
	Who is the "civilian?" I am guessing it is not the concert pianist,  
the piano faculty as a whole, the piano students as a whole.  
Practically speaking, it doesn't matter whether you can persuade  
members of the audience, amateur pianists, etc. that this new piano is  
as good as or better than the old. If nobody wants to play it, it  
won't get played, period. It will be a failure, period. No matter how  
much of your life's blood you have given to make it the best it can be  
(in your opinion).
	Dragging the state of the art back to the stone age? Well, the state  
of the art has to please the state of the art. Meaning the modern  
piano has to please the modern pianist, and the concert piano has to  
please its wide range of users. If the "state of the art" of piano  
redesign is capable of doing that, it will be a resounding success. If  
not, not.
	Are there examples of redesigned concert pianos that have met with  
consensus success at their institutions? If so, those are the  
instruments to examine to discover what portions of redesign are most  
fruitful. (Redesign for the individual is a completely different  
animal).
	
Regards,
Fred Sturm
fssturm at unm.edu
"Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them." Coco  
Chanel