Improving Projection..

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 3/15/01 6:52:00 PM Central Standard Time, 
tito@PhilBondi.com (Phil Bondi) writes:

<< there was little to no projection coming from this little Grand.
 (snip) suggestions warmly welcomed, >>

Use a maximum amount of stretch when tuning.  I have seen some people 
criticize the amount of stretch the SAT III offers.  You just have to face 
the fact that if you really put the kind of stretch into the upper octaves 
that the ear *really wants to hear* AND which will *project* much better into 
the room (the desired effect you want to create), you will have to have some 
fairly dissonant single octaves up there.

To the person who is tuning, these can seem offensive and intolerable.  A 
"pure" sound is what you really want, right?  Forget it!  That "bite" that 
maximum stretch gives those octaves and incidentally, the way music is 
typically played up there, is what you need to have that sparkling and 
attractive sound from the piano.

Tuning in a quiet home is another kind of circumstance.  Do there what is 
best in your judgment.  But really, in the large concert hall or this noisy 
restaurant you are talking about, you can't tune too sharp.

There may be other solutions that will give you some more sound and they 
should be pursued within reason and within the constraints of the amount of 
money the restaurant is willing to pay.  But giving the piano the maximum 
amount of stretch is something you can do the very next time you tune it and 
for no extra charge.  I would do it as a matter of course. 

The amount of stretch in the octaves can and does have a significant effect 
on how the piano sounds.  This goes both ways and all ways from minimum or 
even a deliberate *negative* stretch to as much as you would dare and can 
justify.  This effect will be in addition to any other effects such as from 
voicing, refined regulation or a different temperament.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin