Duysen, a final word

[Richard Brekne]

Hi list

Grin.... much going on in Bergen these days and actually all is well and
fine and today I had to go and finish off this Stanwoodized (more or less)
action. I had delivered it to the house and installed the action last
friday, and today was the finished tuning and voicing plus a general check
through of the regulation.

I left it friday fairly well tuned after a pitch raise of 50 cents roughly.
I like to have folks play on a new set of hammers for a few days if I can
before sticking any needles in them. Superstition probably... but it seems
to me that they open up a little with a bit of play. Anyways.. after tuning
I pulled the action and deep needled the shoulders 30 - 35 times and stuck
it back in. And BWAMMM !... what a sound. I couldnt believe my ears. 5 days
ago it sound fairly ok... oldish.. a bit nasal in the mid treble.. bright
but little feel of sustain overall.. and a pretty nice sounding bass. But
after rough needling this puppy just plain amazed me. Big round bright (but
not glassy) sound that just engulfed the room. It was like nothing to even
out the voiceing from there. Sounded like it had grown at least a foot and
a half.

I also noticed that there was this really neat sensation of finger contact
with the hammers.. thats right hammers. You could feel them and really
control them through the entire key stroke, yet the action was smooth and
really responsive.. a nice gentle bump through letoff.

All in all, this job ate the tomatoes out of any action work I have ever
done before. I am not sure how much of it is Stanwoods basic idea, or how
much of it was luck, or just plain all the new parts handled like 10 times
more carefully then I normally have time for. (I have been on this job for
like a month and a half now... :) ) But I suspect the basic idea of evening
out the Strike weights and getting a decent relationship between them and
the keyweights had the biggest role to play. I look really forward to
getting the chance to do this routine again.

Thanks again to those of you who have helped me with advice and counsel
along the way.

btw.. the lady who owned this piano was like flabbergastedly besides
herself with glee. I dont think I have ever had anyone pay me so happily
before.


--
Richard Brekne
RPT, N.P.T.F.
Bergen, Norway