"Loss of Tone" Complaint

[Farrell]

That is one of the first things I will check when I go back. I wish I had
thought of that when I was there. When I originally read Joe's post, I
thought "no, not likely that because it gets softer when I use the shift".
But maybe something is in there that is holding the hammer position just a
bit over such that the string is contacting the edge of the groove and you
get a muffled tone, but when the shift is used you get a more muffled tone.
That would also explain the few nice bright hammers in the midst of the
marshmallow sounding ones - those would be ones with loose action
centers?????  Thanks for the suggestions - sometimes it takes the same one
twice to register!

Terry Farrell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Cole" <tcole@cruzio.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 2:39 AM
Subject: Re: "Loss of Tone" Complaint


> Terry,
>
> If this loss of tone happened suddenly, I would want to investigate what
> Joe Goss mentioned, that maybe the strings are no longer being contacted
> by the grooved part of the hammers. Somebody might have stepped on the
> shift pedal and then a coin or something fell down between the key frame
> and that cloth-covered block thingee. IOW, the action shifted and
> couldn't shift back. If the hammers haven't been filed in a long time,
> the tone change on shift can be pretty dramatic.
>
> Tom Cole
>
> Farrell wrote:
> >
> > I tuned a 1928 Conover 5' 8" grand yesterday. I have now tuned it three
> > times. They tune once a year. When making the appt., the lady asked me
to
> > clean the piano interior because they had made dust while installing
tile on
> > the floor AND because she noticed a loss of piano tone. Actually, she
told
> > me about the loss of tone thing while on the car phone, so I did not
want to
> > have a long conversation - otherwise I may have pointed out that a
little
> > dust just ain't gonna kill a piano.
> >
> > Cleaned and tuned piano. The piano appears to suffer from a "loss of
tone"
> > (after getting dust out - so we know that was not it!!)! This piano
appears
> > to be all original with original hammers. It is in just about as good
> > condition as any 73 year old all original piano will ever be. It
functions
> > amazingly well (it's overall condition is about average for a 40 - 50
year
> > old piano). The tone is REAL MELLOW. It's like someone put marshmallows
> > (fresh) on in place of the hammers. The scale is four sections. The top
two
> > are very quiet and super mellow, the bottom two are louder, but not
loud,
> > and mellow, but not as muffled as the top two.
> >
> > The soundboard is flat or has just a bit of crown. Downbearing seems
real
> > good (only had my rocker gauge with me yesterday - it did not seem
> > excessive, although there was plenty).
> >
> > Even in the top two sections, there are a couple-few notes that are a
lot
> > louder and crisper. It's almost like all the hammers went soft, but a
couple
> > had nail polish spilled on them.
> >
> > Anyway, my overall question is why is this piano like this (I realize
that
> > is a very nebulous question), and assuming the hammers are the primary
cause
> > (I plucked and it seems as though the hammers are the culprit - kinda
hard
> > to tell though because I cannot pluck as hard as a hammer can hit!) -
what
> > happens to an old hammer to make it soft?
> >
> > I am used to old hammers getting really hard - but an old one getting
soft?
> > When you use the una-corda everything gets super-duper-incredibly
mellow.
> > Would chemical treatment likely be of value here? I have never hardened
a
> > hammer - always steaming or needling.
> >
> > And now a more global question. What happens to quality hammers as they
age?
> > They start out at some level of hardness, but also they will have a good
> > deal of tension across the strike point. I suppose this tension is
> > responsible for something like "a full development of a pleasing bouquet
of
> > partials"? Even if you harden, or soften, or whatever to your liking a
50 or
> > 70 year-old hammer, I can only assume that you will never get it back to
how
> > it sounded when new (maybe a half-bouquet at best?). It's gotta loose
> > ALL/most the tension or whatever after a couple/few decades. So, would
it
> > not be the case that in almost any situation, even if a piano owner
> > generally likes the tone of a piano (hammers look pretty good, but they
are
> > 50 years old), that it will likely sound better with new hammers (I
realize,
> > not that most people would notice)? What can anyone tell me about how a
> > hammer ages?
> >
> > Thanks big time.
> >
> > Terry Farrell