Old board/New question

[Delwin D Fandrich]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Jankura" <kenrpt@cvn.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: May 10, 2001 7:04 AM
Subject: Old board/New question


> When I got to the 'crown' part, I couldn't find any string in my case to
check it so I
> moved on. There were many long wide cracks, some dime-worthy, in the
> soundboard, one running under most of the bridge, and with my simple
rocker
> gauge, I could detect absolutely no bearing  anywhere. Well, maybe a teeny
> bit in the bass. Truthfully, no bearing, zero, zip. The piano was about 70
cents flat
> (average) and I didn't think adding more tension would help the
downbearing
> situation much. The unisons I tuned to check tone sounded lifeless, with
> little sustain.

Well, yes. That is the symptom of no string bearing and a dead board.



> The almost unplayed 1950 hammers looked great and the
> action, with a little regulation, seemed very serviceable, meaning no
> verdigris. As an afterthought, I went out to the van, got some string, and
> checked the crown. Surprise, surprise. I think one would be happy to see
> this much crown on a new board! There was at least 1/8" in any of the long
> sections, and discernible crown all the way up into the short rib treble.
What the
> heck??

One might, whoever he or she might be, but I wouldn't. Not under the
circumstances you've described. One-eight inch is about 3 mm and, if you
were telling us that the strings had excellent bearing deflection
throughout, I would say 3 mm is great and figure there is still some good
life left here. Then I'd have to look elsewhere to figure out why the tone
is lifeless with little sustain. In fact, if the strings had marginally
acceptable deflection -- i.e., string downbearing -- I would still consider
this amount of soundboard crown to be, while minimal, still acceptable. We
could rebuild the piano, fill the cracks, reset the plate and buy a few
years of reasonable performance as long as the piano was kept away from
severe temperature/humidity extremes. But this board is completely unloaded.
As you've described the situation, no, this is not much crown. Even in a new
piano I'd hope to see a bit more crown than this along the longest ribs.
Though, if the board were rib-crowned and there was good string bearing I
wouldn't worry about it much.

Consider what you've told us: No string bearing whatsoever. Nominal crown.
Good hammers. Dead tone. Aside from sounding in tune, tuning won't help. Nor
will 'voicing.' This board is shot.



> Did it have 3/8" before it died to this point 30 years ago??

Probably. And at least half that when strung and fully loaded.



> I was
> shocked to see any. I'm not real experienced in this. The crown did look
> like it originated at the rim, meaning 6 or so inches in from the rim,
crown
> was 1/8" and stayed fairly even until 6 inches from the other end. Does
this
> make sense?

Yes. This is a classic case of soundboard failure due to compression set.
(Again, my standard plea: go back and read the articles.) The board has
collapsed under the downward force of string bearing until there is now no
more string downforce pushing against it and it has reached a state of
equilibrium. If it's of any comfort to anyone, at least it won't get any
worse from here on out...until, of course, somebody comes along and rebuilds
it, fills all those cracks, puts on a nice new finish, resets the plate and
reloads the board. When this is done the board will end up pretty much flat
and it still won't have enough stiffness to give decent tone. Oh, sure, it
will be a little bit better initially, but give it a year or two. Then some
poor piano tuner will be out there facing the impossible task of trying to
'voice' the hammers to get some kind of tone performance out of what is
basically a dead soundboard. Except that now it will be the field
technicians fault because there can't possibly be any problem with the
soundboard because it had 'good crown' back when it was rebuilt and because
it now has 'Good Surface Continuity.' (Sorry, Jim, it just slipped out...)
So, out will come the hammer elixir and the sandpaper files and whatever
else is in voicing vogue come two years from now. But none of that stuff
will do any good. And the next time the piano is tuned some other tuner will
be doing it because, obviously, the first one wasn't any good...



> I know the inner rim is angled, but would this explain this
> amount of crown on this otherwise dead board?

That, and the fact that the board has reached equilibrium with the string
plane. There are no forces remaining to push it down any further so what
nominal crown is left will remain indefinitely. But it's not doing the tone
performance any good. Soundboards have to be loaded with some amount of
string downforce for the mechanism of crown to have an effect on tone
performance.



> Any comments?  The piano
> needs everything

 . . . including a new soundboard . . .

> except a new action ;-) which significantly lowers its value . . .

Yes, it does. But, does the owner realize this? Or did you speak glowingly
with him of all that amazing crown still in the soundboard? Does he realize
that when the piano is restrung and the plate reset for 'proper' downbearing
the soundboard will be nicely reverse-crowned? And the tone will still be
dead? Or does he think the soundboard can be easily repaired by simply
filling a few cracks -- giving it wonderful continuity  of surface (oops,
there I go again) -- and restoring it to like-new condition. Maybe even
better, since the soundboard is now nicely aged and we know that soundboard
wood gets better with age, right? Will somebody be buying the Steinway decal
on the fallboard, expecting to get everything the name implies and wondering
why the tuner can't make it sound like a piano? Will the buyer understand it
is going to take more than just its normal -- but seemingly regular (What,
only 70 cents flat? Aw, let's try for 100!) -- twenty-five year tuning to
make this piano sound decent? Will the buyer understand that this piano
needs a new soundboard and pay accordingly? What happens when the buyers
technician shows up, analyzes the situation correctly, tells the buyer the
soundboard is shot and is firmly, and perhaps not politely informed by the
seller that a previous, highly-regarded, technician has already carefully
examined the piano and determined that the soundboard had 'great crown.' If
you haven't been there yet, you will be one day.

At least those are the comments that come readily to my now, after many long
years at this, cynical mind . . . .

Regards,

Del