Old Steinways

[Nichols]

At 01:04 PM 5/22/2005 -0400, you wrote:
>  Even after they had done all the work to spec. , the
>stretcher still bowed up terribly when the piano was under tension.  It isn't
>very stable, tuning wise, either!
>     Dale Irwin writes of maybe addressing this with a Falconwood stretcher,
>but I would suggest finding some way of getting some steel in there. Maybe a
>heavy piece of angle iron that could be let into the stretch/block before 
>it is
>installed?  Somehow, more resistance needs to be found to the rotational 
>force
>upon the pinblock when all the strings are pulling.
>
>Ed Foote RPT

Ed,
    We found that Delignit alone can't handle the rotational stress. We 
also found that a steel frame was extremely helpful, but still not as 
stable as we'd hoped. (we've always inlaid a nice chunk of angle iron for 
the shelves on that type of block)  BUT... we discovered that we could 
reduce the angle of forward slant on the top of the block (especially in 
the middle) and really achieve some better stability and stress handling. 
This also increases the deflection angle of the strings off the bar near 
the aggraffes. A few degrees towards horizontal has done the job on several 
of those old-timers quite successfully. It's like the difference between a 
leaning buttress and an "H" assembly. The stress seems to tug the block and 
stretcher into the flange instead up up-and-over. Later designs from the 
factory all seem to be more inclined to be horizontal. Or maybe I should 
say that later styles are less inclined to be more inclined.

On that note......
g'night,
Guy