Need a Mason Expert

[Delwin D Fandrich]

A440A@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Greetings all,
> 
>     Somebody tell me something.  I finally got the customer with the lousy
> sounding M&H to agree to new bass strings. The bottom end on this piano
> always sounded bad.    It is a model B, and my question is this.
>     The bass windings all stop 1 inch from either end of the speaking length.
>  This seems excessive, and I wonder if  that is why this piano has never
> sounded like I am familiar with M&H pianos sounding like.
>       Should I should ask Mapes to add 1/2 inch on either end?  I don't do my
> own scaling, but it seems it will require more tension to reach pitch this
> way,  and I wonder if I should replace with what is there.  This piano is #
> 58,000 and appears to have been made for installation of a repro action,
> which was never installed.
> 
> Thanks,
> Ed Foote

----------

Ed,

Increasing the wrap by 1/2" on either end will alter inharmonicity
somewhat, but it won't improve the sound.

Properly rescaling the bass section of a piano will ALWAYS improve the
performance of that piano. Actually, rescaling the whole piano will
improve the performance of the whole piano and is much preferable to
doing just the bass section. Some can be improved more than others, but
there will always be some improvement. (There may be one or two
exceptions to this with so-called "modern" pianos, but I don't know of
any—and I've looked at quite a few scales from current production
pianos.) 

You don't necessarily need "more tension," but you won't know for sure
until you measure and evaluate the scale that is currently there. (Or
have it evaluated by someone who is familiar with good stringing scale
practice.)

I cringe when I hear of changes being made to stringing scales blindly,
without a knowledge of what is already there. More damage than good can
be done really fast.

—ddf