<html> <body> Ron, <x-tab>        </x-tab>Thanks for sharing the info about your commission. That's good news! Congratulations!!! Care to share which manufacture did the commissioning? best, Greg Newell At 05:47 PM 8/28/2006, you wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Hello Alan and all, <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">I'm working over a Chickering grand, about a 6 footer or a shade longer. The bass on this piano reminds me of a M&H BB, big and boomy. Running a chromatic scale up from the bass there is an obvious transition problem when you get to the tenor.</blockquote> Yep, the chromatic-run test is the one which shows up a problem. <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""> It is kind of a nasal "thonk." Funny thing is though when you run the chromatic scale down the tenor and into the bass, the transition doesn't sound as obviously poor. Tenor sounds reasonably decent - not big and boomy, but not thin either, fairly round but just doesn't project or have the swell like the bass. I have done all I think possible with hammer voicing to even it out. I'm thinking it is a board/bridge/string issue of mass (too much or too little?). Or impedance? Or, ??? Short of board re-design, anyone have any suggestions for improving this transition? It is in a lively classroom. It is not used for performance, but is used for chamber practice and such. Not the highest priority situation, so re-design is not an option. But it is a decent piano and worth keeping around.</blockquote> From what you describe it might be a case of too little weight in the low tenor, combined with too much board activity at the high end of the bass bridge. The treble bridge will be a lot lower in height than the bass bridge, so there's often a weight difference which can easily be addressed by adding a brass weight or two to the soundboard buttons, as Ed suggested. As Ron N mentioned, the scale is an area which may provide some enlightenment also. You can add weights on top of sound board buttons by using longer screws with the same diameter and thread pitch. This will allow you to add quite a bit of weight if necessary. From what you describe it sounds as if the high end of the bass bridge might be placed too far out from the perimeter of the board. This is a common problem and it often results in a 'boomy' high end of the bass. One trick which may help you is to place a dowel between a back beam and the sound board, placing it at a strategic distance to reduce soundboard activity some, but not too much. I've done this several times to help a cross-over which is uneven. It becomes a piano with a sound-post but it works. Another 'suck it and see' test you can perform is tapping the bridges at the cross over, listening to the characteristic thump of the sound board at each end of the two bridges. In pianos which have a good crossover, the thump characteristics of the bridge ends will sound very similar. When the cross is ordinary you'll often hear a thump which is much darker on one of the bridge ends (usually it will be the bass). When a piano is strung, I perform this relative-thump test by placing a clean piece of cotton cloth on the bridge to avoid touching the strings. This test will still give you an indication, even though the piano is strung. When rebuilding pianos. when the piano is stripped we habitually tap the board at the bridge ends in an attempt to determine if the soundboard activity levels match. For many pianos, we've tapered the board at various places, added weight and extended the foot of the bridges as necessary, to modify the soundboard activity levels before re-assembly. Its always easier to make fundamental changes when a piano is stripped, rather than applying the limited options available once the piano is re-assembled. When you strike a piano that's together its harder, but its nonetheless surprising what can be achieved. Fixing scale problems will require a tear-down, but sound board activity problems can often be helped with judicious use of weights and hardwood dowels. What I find staggering is how some manufacturers can build the same instrument for decade after decade without asking the question of what makes a certain instrument sound the way it does. Many of the problems we hear must have been in the original piano at day one. Designing a new model is such an exciting time, with the opportunity at hand to make a real difference. I have received my first commission to design a new piano for another manufacturer. The piano in question is a 131 cm upright. The current piano made by this manufacturer has so many problems it will need a totally new scale, plate and sound board. This is a new challenge for me since I have a 133 cm design exercise which I did back in 1996. Some of my tone building ideas have evolved since then, but a lot of the design remains valid. I'm currently laying up the sound board area, scaling, back scale and note spacing. Since I have decided not to manufacture any upright pianos myself, all of my design ideas from  the 1996 concept can be incorporated into the new 131 design. I expect to be building the prototype by December. The manufacturer is sending me a semi-built shell, without a sound board or plate. I'll build the protoype into the existing case to save the cost of re-tooling for the case. Regards, Ron O. -- OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY    Grand Piano Manufacturers _______________________ Web <a href="http://overspianos.com.au/" eudora="autourl"> http://overspianos.com.au</a> <a href="mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au" eudora="autourl"> mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au</a> _______________________</blockquote> <x-sigsep></x-sigsep> Greg Newell Greg's Piano Forté <a href="mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net" eudora="autourl"> mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net </a><a href="http://www.gregspianoforte.com/" eudora="autourl"> www.gregspianoforte.com</a> </body> </html>