<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><div>Thanks, Bob.<br /> I too feel this way about M&H pianos, and to an only slightly lesser extent Conovers, which I've been told were also designed by Gertz, hence the tonal similarity. ( I recently moved a Conover 77 that had a bass side 7 inches thick, I suspect! And I have another in my shop but seemingly not quite so thick. ) And I've noticed that their soundboards, when unstrung and thumped upon, do not give a big, resonant "Thummmmmmmmm" like a Knabe board would. But when strung and played produce a warm richness that is unsurpassed. <br />( Do they use a slightly higher tension scale?)<br /><br />Thumpe</div></td></tr></table> <div id="_origMsg_">
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span>
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Bob Hohf <rhohf@centurytel.net>; <br>
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<span style="font-weight:bold:">To:</span>
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<caut@ptg.org>; <br>
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<span style="font-weight:bold:">Subject:</span>
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Re: [CAUT] Fwd: Mason & Hamlin soundboard model with tuning fork <br>
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<span style="font-weight:bold;">Sent:</span>
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Thu, May 24, 2012 8:40:53 PM <br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'>I confess to being a member of the Mason & Hamlin cult,
having a M&H CC in my living room, and after decades of studying M&Hs
of all vintages, believing that they have the most advanced design of any
piano.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'>There are some important elements of the M&H system that I
haven’t seen mentioned in this discussion:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'> </span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style='margin-left:.75in;'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'><span style=''>1.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman";'> </span></span></span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'> Unlike
any other piano that I have ever seen, the surface of the M&H inner rim
where the soundboard is glued is contoured like the rolling swell on a calm
ocean. This is not hard to measure—take a stick and check the distance between
the top of the soundboard and the top of the rim in any M&H. The contour
is more pronounced in the older ones.</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style='margin-left:.75in;'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'><span style=''>2.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman";'> </span></span></span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'>The
inner rim of a M&H is the heaviest in the business. The heaviest beams in
the business are attached to the bottom of the rim, apparently intended to
resist compression along their length. The spider is above the beams, obviously
designed to resist tension. The spider is sandwiched between the soundboard and
the braces. Many have criticized this design as “over-engineering” seemingly
because the structural system can resist many times the amount of stress that
any soundboard will ever be able to exert on it. I’d suggest that the idea of “over-engineering”
has no place in piano design, and that there’s more to the system than preserving
soundboard crown.</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style='margin-left:.75in;'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'><span style=''>3.<span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman";'> </span></span></span><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'>The
inner/outer rim design allows the contouring of the inner rim and the
construction of the structural system.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#1F497D;'> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'>Richard Gertz, the inventor of the M&H system, was one of
the great innovators of piano design. To look back at his work and judge it
based on modern sensibility amounts to historical revisionism. Although we can
only guess at his intent behind the design, it is called the “Centripetal
Tension RESONATOR”, not the “Centripetal Crown Preserver”. Even if the theory
that Gertz was working with was wrong, it doesn’t alter the fact that there is
something about the system that produces pianos with incomparable tone and resonance.
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'>Bob Hohf</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'>Wisconsin</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";color:#1F497D;'> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style='margin-left:.5in;'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"sans-serif";'> caut-bounces@ptg.org
[mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Euphonious Thumpe<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, May 23, 2012 5:49 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> caut@ptg.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [CAUT] Fwd: Mason & Hamlin soundboard model with tuning
fork</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style='color:navy;'>… </span>Should it not be
remembered that the M&H turnbuckle device does not CREATE crown ( that is
done during board construction) but rather is intended to merely preserve it
(in all planes, even if ever so slight) by preventing "case
spread"?<br>
Would those who are so critical of the efficacy of this device ( and the very
importance of crown ) also fully explain to us, please, why they impart
crown, at all, in their own board designs? (Yes, I belive it has been well
explained as "for stiffness" -- but perhaps the "spider"
assists in this, and serves another function also - such as in transferral of
vibration equitably from one part of the case to another, and consequently
back to the board, helping to create the M&H's nearly unique, signature,
resonance.) <br>
Could not the value of the M&H device be simply demonstrated by
temporarily removing one, and making a scientific before/after analyzation of
tone? ( In same RH, temperature, barometric pressure and etc..) <br>
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Most Respectfully,<br>
Thumpe</p>
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