Lacquer fight!/ Internal friction

[Richard Brekne]

This is a fascinating report from an apparently American source, once 
which goes a long way towards explaining a hidden identity thing.  You 
are basically throwing  the whole light and bright sound in the garbage 
pile. 

Personally, I remember many folks complaining years ago about overly 
bright metallic sounding Japaneese instruments, and remembered how dark 
and moody western pianos sounded in comparision.... and as the years 
went by how the growing dominance of Yamaha seemed to be changing that 
picture.... to the point where I almost never find pianos that come 
close to sacrificing any of that bright brilliance for tone.  The 
accepted <<voice>> has definantly gotten brighter over the years.

All the more welcome then the apparent return by some hammer makers to 
an approach that produced some of those wonderful pianos of yester-year.

I agree... with the <<substance>> comment below.

Cheers

RicB


Topperpiano@aol.com wrote:

> Andre, Thanks for your response.  I really meant that I just 
> group piano hammers in two groups, _needle down_ or _juice up _and in 
> no way meant to put words in your mouth.  I know there are 
> pretty distinct differences between the three in their materials and 
> sound but I should have made my statement more clear in that I expect 
> German or Asian hammers to be harder and I expect American Steinway 
> hammers to be much softer and needing some lacquer to function.  I 
> don't know if you see many of the smaller American Steinway, Ms and Ls 
> over there but they seem to be the ones that come from the factory 
> needing the most attention.  Most of the larger pianos are coming in 
> with more power but in recent months I have hung German produced 
> hammers on two very nice B's that were less than 6 months old. The 
> buyers just like the sound better and both had already been juiced to 
> the extinction of the power. I have on occasion juiced hammers that 
> were made in Asia, but only very sparingly on most German brands 
> because they already have some in them to begin with. The Steinway 
> pianos have already had some lacquer in the factory and /some/ don't 
> need any more. But when you start with a new set you have to really do 
> some pretty radical manipulation. Part of the problem here in the US 
> is that we have a pretty unsophisticated sense of tonal aesthetic.  
> Too many Americans have been bombarded with such bad piano sound that 
> many do not really have a sense of what good tone is.  For so many 
> years we have had such badly regulated, poorly voiced American pianos 
> of several brands that almost anything that is even to the touch and 
> evenly voiced is regarded as wonderful. The escalation of BRIGHT by 
> the low end Asian manufacturers has obliterated any sense of tone.  
> Just a couple of weeks ago I was asked by a dealer to do some 
> voicing to a Chinese piano because it was not BRIGHT enough. In a 
> voicing sense of course the problem was not bright but a total lack of 
> volume and decay. Many pianists here complain about pianos being not 
> bright enough when the problem is not one of timbre but of 
> substance. Not that I want you to suffer, Andre but I'll bet that 
> faced with a voicing project on a Kimball La Petite you would be 
> reduced to tears.  A perfect example is the ongoing debate among 
> pianists who believe that the Steinway concert grands that are used in 
> New York and as station pianos around the country are manufactured in 
> a completely different way with better materials and different 
> soundboards, actions, hammers, etc.  When you try to tell them that 
> the only difference is that they have been voiced and regulated they 
> are incredulous.  Steinway has long maintained that there is no 
> difference but many pianists, salespeople and dealers alike just do 
> not believe them.  I can tell you that they are the one and the same 
> instrument. Sure they pick the better of the production to be C&A 
> pianos.  Every company would want their best foot forward.  But the 
> reality is that many beautiful Steinway pianos are languishing at the 
> dealer level unpurchased because the dealer won't put 7-10 hours into 
> them.  Rant for today. TP