Then again, Jon, maybe this question belongs right here, and about time. Before you have a generic tech look at the piano for voicing, ask around and find a rebuilder. Try to find a good rebuilder. Try to find a good rebuilder that does soundboard replacement and knows something about crown and bearing. Have him show you the concave crown in octave six, and the correlation between the sound you hear, in what section of the scale, and the condition of the crown directly beneath the bridge at that point. Have him explain that it's a soundboard problem, rather than a voicing problem. Listen when he tells you that he can improve the sound somewhat with voicing, but it won't go away. It will get better during high humidity periods, and worse during the lows. It will sound worse with a hard blow than with a soft one. The attack will always scatter and fuzz, MUCH worse on a hard blow, and the sustain will always be shorter than it should be. The soundboard impedance is too low for the note frequency in that area. It might be helped somewhat by mounting a small weight to the bottom of the soundboard directly under the bridge in that area to slow the energy transfer of the strings to the soundboard. This could appease you for a while until a cure can be arranged. The cure is replacement of the soundboard/ribs with a decently designed and built assembly. I know it's not what you want to hear, but I'd bet it's the odds-on probability of the root cause of your problem. Now, in regards to Jon's comment about it sounding like a typical Baldwin, go look at a new L at your nearest Baldwin dealer. Whack about in octave six a bit and critique what you hear. Crawl underneath with your string (straightedge) and flashlight and see if you can establish a correlation between tonal aberrations and soundboard crown directly under the bridge where these aberrations occur. Call us in the morning, I'd love to know what you find. >This sounds like a typical Baldwin. > >Have your technician request the list's input >if there if difficulty in voicing. > >rec.music.makers.pianos >newsgroup is where this question belongs >so other piano owners can benefit from any input. > >Jon Page >Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass. (jpage@capecod.net) >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >At 12:37 PM 10/23/98 -0400, you wrote: >>Sorry for this intrusion from the world of unintiated philistines, but I >>would appreciate some qualified help/advice: >>so bright and nasal that it's utterly unbearable. Sounds like hammers are >>wood and strings are tin! >> >>A recent tuning and a superficial brushing of the hammers have not improved >>it. In fact it's only got worse. . . Now it sounds both too bright and >>fuzzy all at once. >> >>My preferred sound is round, warm, mellow, and soft, but with clear attack >>and good sustain. I'll soon be hiring a local tech to try to bring it down, >>and my question is directed at technicians who've had experience with >>Baldwin Ls of that vintage (and their hammers): >> >>Does this instrument's scale design and hammers have the kind of tonal >>potential to produce the sound I want? >> >>I practice quite a bit this time of the year, and I'm probably quite the >>hammer packer. . . It would be nice to get some feedback before I start >>investing the hundreds of dollars it will likely take to have it properly >>voiced. >> >>Many Thanks! >>George Gilliland >> >>---------------------- >>Little Garden Design >>134 Broad Street >>2nd Floor >>Stroudsburg PA 18360 >>WEBSITE: <http://www.lgdnet.com> >>717 422 1255 >>717 422 1257 (fax) >>---------------------- >> >> >> > > Ron
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