[CAUT] tone color

[Ron Nossaman]

On 2/23/2011 7:41 PM, Jim Busby wrote:
> Ed,
>
> Well put, although I'm pretty sure you'll get spanked for saying
> it.<G>

Not by me.


> The timbre/volume changes should
> be gradual. It mustn't come up to soon, but it must come up.

The redesigned RC&S pianos don't?


> I think Ron will disagree, seeing any "breaking up" as distortion,
> and therefore a flaw. But this is how I was taught.

Well, yea. Breaking up when over driven is a flaw. Audiophiles won't 
tolerate a speaker that breaks up at high volume levels. In pianos, it's 
necessary? Again, do all pianos do this? Do all 9' pianos? What part of 
the scale are we talking about here? That hasn't been addressed. So far, 
it's just been "the piano". Is this expected at all points? Let's pick 
the state of the art apart for awhile and look at it under a microscope.

We were all taught with the pianos we grew up with that do, not what's 
now showing up as an alternative. It's interesting to me that on this 
subject we haven't heard the usual chorus of "it's not better or worse, 
just different", or "we can't have all the same kind of piano because 
there's no diversity". Different, and diversity, is exactly what the 
people doing redesign and remanufacturing are offering, for those who 
can appreciate it. Some people actually consider them to be superior, 
against all odds. I've heard "musicality", "clarity", "dynamic range", 
"bass fundamental", and a "ringing treble" cited. A few people have 
actually said they sound like they remember pianos sounding in their 
childhood, rather than the loud and harsh instruments they hear today. 
Some people, naturally, don't like them at all. I'd expect that.

I heard one of my pianos in a big room for the first time in Rochester, 
with the B, and it really floored me. I thought it was absolutely 
gorgeous. Listening, I got the impression the pianist was looking for 
the bottom of the pianissimo, deeper with each pass, and never found the 
limit. I asked him about it later, and he confirmed, but said he was 
used to much more top end power. Dale Erwin leaned in and disagreed with 
him, saying it had plenty of power out in the room. Thanks Dale.

So that's what we have. If you must have a piano that sounds like what 
you're used to, keep buying pianos you're used to and rebuilding them 
like you're used to, and never deviate. I see no point in redesigning 
pianos that reproduce what's already available everywhere, and don't 
intend to try. I REALLY like the sound these things produce, and if I 
can find enough customers who like them too, I'll keep doing them.
Ron N