[CAUT] Hard bars,(was Steinway D

[Ed Foote]

David asks: 
>>How often do you think poor treble is in part due to inadequately hardened capo bars?  I know Overs addressed this some years ago on the list but I’ve encountered various Steinway pianos at different times where I was suspicious about the capo bar but don’t really have a reliable way to tell or test. 




Greetings, 
(hope no one minds the change of title) 


    I have seen capos on Steinways with virtually no indentation and others with heavy string dents. They are divided by chronology.  I think I can tell how hard the Vbar is by how much of a dent has been left by the string.  
     Given that wire is constant in diameter from decade to decade,  and the tension remains fairly close, the pressure on the Vbar is nearly a constant. I thought that maybe the amount of tuning would be a factor, but I have seen little used '60's models with deep dents, and older concert grands that had been tuned huge numbers of times with only light marks, so I dunno, I am going to ignore the  tuning effect.   The pre war pianos I have seen didn't need a complete dressing of the V bar because there was almost no dent to be seen.  Many of the pianos from the early 60's onward have deep grooves.  This makes me believe that earlier plates were harder. 
 
    I have a number of Steinways in my care with 90 year old strings. One, (equipped with a pair of actions I built),  was used here in a jazz club for several years before migrating to a faculty studio for classical piano.  It is a 1914 O, and it is a rare one in that it still has crown and downbearing with good, tight bridges. Used by a large variety of professional artists, it was often remarked upon.  I have seen full grown jazz artists virtually stand on the piano for many shows, and nothing breaks. 
   The classical instructor is one of our more vigorous players, and prefers it to her 2000 model L.  
    It has the original bass strings and they sing.  The treble wire is intact, tunes well, and has perhaps 2 false beats in it, total. There are no string rattles.  What the hell is the problem that that can't be replicated today?  
Ed Foote RPT
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html

 

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