lRe: Brash Failure

[Joseph Garrett]

Pierre said: "A small Erard Square from 1804 that I?ve been restoring this year (with the
original sound board) has a nice tone and a long sustain."

Hmmm? Because these instruments have a very low tension, the "tone" will be "nice" to your ear, IMO. Define "a long sustain",please. Most instruments of that period had little or no sustain, in my experience.

"It is a verry small soundboard and the string pressure moved the board
downward causing a dip around the bridge."

That is definately a "failure" of the wood. Especially, since those instruments had/have little or no downbearing to begin with, in my experience. The 1805 Clementi, that I care for, has a much worse soundboard scenario....it is buckled in the "killer octave" area. It has almost zero sustain and is pretty "thumpy". Definately  failure of wood structure, IMO.

"Except for this the piano was remarquably well preserved (wich is not often
the case) and I suppose for that reason that the is still good enough to
produce a good sound. (the piano is tuned at 390 hz)"

Again: Hmmmm? I'm curious why you are tuning this instrument @ 390cps? For that time, in Paris, (which was the mecca for Erard), most pitches were in the 400cps to 443cps range? I would have chosen 425cps as a pitch that would put the instrument close to it's designed pitch/tone and yet not overstress the structure too much. What you are hearing @ 390cps is NOT the true sound of the instrument, IMO.
Regards,

Joseph Garrett, R.P.T.
Captain, Tool Police
Squares R I
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