[CAUT] Steinway sound

[David Stanwood]

David Love wrote:

><snip>
>You make the statement "This SALA Steinway D had 1/4 high hammer Strike
>Weights which give an appropriate Steinway Sound for concert stage".  Do
>they?  Does that mean that a 1/4 low SW (not that familiar with the specific
>numbers associated with your terms without going to the charts) would give
>an inappropriate Steinway sound for the concert stage?  You're making an
>assumption here and I'm not convinced.
<snip>

David,

Yes I would say in my professional opinion and experience that a 1/4 
low SW level would give an inappropriate sound for the concert stage. 
I'm not making any assumption. It the result of blood, sweat, and 
tears and years.  Much of it qualitative gut experience but I can 
offer one bit of quantitative result.  For thirty years I've provided 
pianos for a local jazz concert series.  Early on I was into light 
hammers probably in the range of Top Low.  We had trouble getting 
enough mike signal out of the piano without getting feedback.  When I 
learned how to up the hammer weights to top medium and into the high 
zone the microphone signals went way up and our feedback problem 
disappeared.  So the actual measurable tonal energy coming out of the 
piano was much higher with the higher hammer weights.  This effect 
shows in the concert hall in a pianos ability to tonally fill the 
hall and also to compete with orchestral ensemble.  With light 
hammers the tone can be beautiful but small.  Light hammers get lost 
in the orchestral shuffle.  Upping the ratio doesn't make up for it 
in my experience.  I can also give hard data on world standards for 
hammer weights.  In the '90's I had an opportunity to measure strike 
weights on a number of Hamburg Steinway D's.  The weight levels are 
all in the mid high zone with a 2 gram spread in variation.  I can 
provide a graph of all the data if you or anyone else in on this 
discussion wants but I'm a little busy this morn.

David Stanwood