Piano Design Question

[Erwinspiano@aol.com]

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Ron
  I'd have to agree. The first wide bellied  disappointment that comes to 
mind is the Mason AA. Also the BB is also a design  with IMHO narrow build 
parameters. If ever a piano need less soundboard acreage  it surely is this. I like 
the idea that the bridge is closer to the middle of  the panel & rib lay out 
which, is one advantage to adding a bass cut-off but  the massive length of the 
ribs (ie 46 or 48 inches in the bass corner precludes  much enduring or 
significant crown stability. I've heard some of these that were  set up wrong in 
one fashion or another & they frankly , to my ear , sounded  like a 7 ft spinet.
    Unless steps are taken to add a bass  cut-off  thereby shortening the 
ribs & adding a fish with some extra  treble ribs , the tone remains  unfocused.  
Appropriate & ample  amounts of bearing are of course, in my mind, what 
drives the engine   of any good setup & the BB is no exception.
  I will say that a few  of the asian wide  bellied  small grands seem to 
have some very amazing sustain in the treble.  I looked at a schaefer 5 ft the 
other day which belongs to my apprentice.Hey I'm  no fan of schafers but 
honestly the sustain doesn't get better the this  one. I had put Isaac hammers in it 
many years ago & they were getting all  that was to be had. The bass is of 
course a disappointment but the body of the  piano was so wide you could hardly 
call it a curve. A true  freakazoid
  It had a sitka panel & I didn't look at the ribbing  but something was 
working except  of course the bass tenor cross over .  Usual trash design. but the 
melody range was just amazing for a small  piano.
  Regards
  Dale
    
 
 
 Ron Overs Writes

There is  one factor which might be an advantage with the overstrung 
layout. It  allows for longer speaking lengths in the low tenor, 
provided that the  bass bridge is positioned far enough away from the 
straight side to allow  room for the longer tenor scale and its 
accompanying hitch pin belt. Some  will argue that you can have a long 
scale on the  plain wire string section of a straight or oblique 
layout provided the  case is a wide bellied design, but I've not been 
particularly impressed  with a number of the wide bellied cases I've 
heard in recent years. I  realise that the examples I'm thinking of 
are overstrung, but I think  the same lack of tonal focus would plague 
the straight strung layout  if one were to use a wide belly.

The wide bellied  fashion is really raging in piano-design land at the 
moment. But its a  fashion I have no intention of taking up.


 

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