Steinways / David Andersen

[Erwinspiano at aol.com]

Hi Barb
  Is till owe you a beer. Right?
  Rebuilder or not we are often called to evaluate  problems not readily seen 
so it behooves us as Techs to be very careful when  rendering an opinion that 
may cause some one grief & expense if we miss  something this important.
    Anyway there are quite a few ways to  determine this phenomenon.  A very 
easy  and visual way is to take a  six inch ruler, stand it on it's edge on 
the bridge between string patches &  see if it points a slope going up above  
the string on the speaking length  or below. Also pointing the long end  on the 
back scale side will also  reveal an angle as well.  Lowell bublle gauges are 
also useful in seeing  this as are the wooden bearing checking gauges I posted 
about a few months  back.  I think I sent a picture.
  Dale Erwin

      Yes,well I tuned  & evaluated an 8 year old D today that was rented 
locally. It was voiced  with the usual Big bright concerto >hall sound. Nothing 
wrong with  that.  Lots of power but not much sweetness. Plucking notes in the 
killer  octaves displayed more >sustain than the hammers were able to give in 
there  condition, so it lacked any tonal change over the dynamic range. But it 
had a  >fair voice.
>    Using a crown string revealed little  residual crown though the bass end 
& none in the top. However It had   plenty of bearing in >the top trebles.  
Problem for me was that the  bridge slope was either flat or angling downhill 
on the speaking length side  of the >entire bridge  so all the bearing force 
was applied basically  at the rear pins. 
 
Is this something you could actually see, did  your bearing gauge or level 
indicate it, or something else  altogether?   I'm not into big deal rebuilding, 
but would like to be  able to recognize potential problems.
 
 
Thanks,
 
Barbara Richmond, RPT
near Peoria, Illinois 
 



 
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