Scaling problem

[Billbrpt@AOL.COM]

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In a message dated 5/20/01 10:59:46 AM Central Daylight Time, 
joegarrett@earthlink.net (Joseph Garrett) writes:

> Initially, when I first bumped into the problem, with the first GH1, I was
> told, by Yamaha, that the "G" stands for grand and the "H" stands for home.
> The original design was INTENDED for those buyers who want a grand in their
> 

Unfortunately, too many manufacturers built pianos for this reason.  Around 
here and also in other cities I've been to, the GH1 is the piano found in the 
big hotels (like the ones that hold the Conventions and Regional Seminars).  
To the people buying the piano, it looks (and probably sounds) the same as 
the much more expensive models.  They buy it for the classy looks and the 
"sweet noise" that comes from the piano tinkling along with the white noise 
from the water fountain in the lobby.

Having to have the tuner come is about as welcome as having to have the rat 
exterminator come.  That banging disturbs the guests!  Now, try to talk to 
the Food & Beverage Manager (the only one who orders and schedules this kind 
of service from an office in the basement which has no windows) about 
cleaning and other maintenance requirements.  Forget it!  He's never heard of 
anyone doing those things and as far as he's concerned, the piano sounds just 
fine the way it is.

On the other hand, I've known at least a couple of these pianos that really 
did sound good and were played by really good pianist-entertainers who knew 
what to ask that manager for.  I have one piano teacher customer who has one 
for which I converted the 6 lowest tenor unisons to wound strings.  There was 
a kit for that supplied by Yamaha.  One of my 4 times per year customers has 
one that was built with the wound strings in the low tenor.  It's the easiest 
job I have to do in my entire clientele.  The piano has a full Humidity 
Control System.  It barely takes me 30 minutes to tune it.

Scale design to me is a fascinating subject.  There are so many pianos which 
so obviously could have a better design, some of which are still being made 
the same old way, namely the *Stein* way, model L.  I wonder why I never see 
anyone talking about it.  To me, the tone and stability problem is almost as 
bad as with the Yamaha GH1.

There were other "grand" pianos built mainly to sit in front of the picture 
window so that the neighbors could see that the house has the a "baby grand" 
piano.  The Kimball La Petite is a good example.  I've long defended Kimball 
against those who have condemned the company wholesale but the La Petite is 
hard to defend.  The Baldwin B and C series are also in this category:  an 
embarrassment to the industry and may ultimately be a major contribution to 
the company's demise.

Another instrument in this category comes to mind, one which I have always 
seen and heard condemned as the very worst:  The Brambach.  Conrad H. once 
wrote about how badly one had been rebuilt including all of the gory details. 
 I didn't want to read or hear about that.  When I've defended service of 
some of the more common pianos as the way most piano technicians make their 
living, I've been offered some Brambachs to take on.

Then, last week, I was called to the Governor's Mansion where I have serviced 
the Steinway M in the parlor for nearly 15 years.  It was not however, to 
tune it but a piano upstairs which belongs to the new Governor's wife.  (Our 
4th term Governor, Tommy Thompson, known as the powerful Conservative who 
virtually dismantled the Welfare System and "ended Welfare as we know it" was 
appointed by George W. Bush to do the same on a national scale as Secretary 
of Health and Human Services.  He moved to Washington and the Lieutenant 
Governor, Scott Mc Callum assumed the Governorship).

I was escorted up to a small studio upstairs with a nice looking, small ebony 
grand in it.  I opened it up and found a meticulously rebuilt and refinished 
Brambach: clean, perfectly aligned and regulated.  It was only a few cents 
flat and also to my surprise, the temperament was a very good example of ET, 
not the usual Reverse Well substitution for ET that I have come to expect.

It tuned just fine.  I raised the pitch slightly to 440 and converted the 
temperament and octave system to my own EBVT.  Now, it still is nothing more 
than it ever was, a "furniture" piano but I noted one thing about the "poor" 
scale design that I have noticed in many other makes that can happen when 
tuning with either an HT or my EBVT: you really can get more sweet than sour 
out of it if you know what you're doing.

Before tuning, I listened to a broad C Major chord in the given ET.  UGH!  It 
surely didn't sound like what I have become accustomed to C Major as 
sounding.  Then I tried Db Major: it sounded *equally* bad, as I would have 
expected.  After finishing the tuning, I again tried the two chords.  The C 
Major was much improved, as expected but to my surprise, the Db major still 
sounded *less harsh* than it did in ET and much "cleaner".

I can't go around and rescale every piano which I think could be improved 
(and that would be most of them) but I can use what I know about tuning and 
voicing to make the ones that I am asked to service and from which I earn my 
living to create a pleasing sound that will satisfy the best of musicians.  
Mrs. Mc Callum was delighted with the sound of her piano (and no, I did not 
*explain* anything to her) and I got to meet the new Governor which was a 
thrill for me since I had never seen the past Governor in person, only on TV 
or in the papers.

"Poor scales" are only a *problem* if you see them as such.

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin

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