Steinway A

[A440A at aol.com]

<<  I am having trouble getting consistent tone, right around  F# 5 to D6.  
It is great before and after this.  I knew from the talk around the List that 
sometimes it is necessary to change the strike line in the Killer Octave area 
to achieve the best tone, but how much is workable?

    I suspected something amiss, when the hammers that were changed before, 
were hung at 5" instead of 5 1/8", and the bass hammers had almost no angle on 
them (2 or 3 degrees).  I created my own samples, and hung the rest to them 
(Spurlock's jigs are GREAT).  It all worked out well, except this area.  When 
the action is pulled out, the tone improves dramatically in that area, but how 
much is too much?  What has been your experiences?  I'm going to have to do 
something, quickly.  HELP!! >>

Greetings, 
     My experience has been that 90% of Steinways this old have dead 
soundboards in this section. When you say the tone improves, does that mean it simply 
is much louder, or can you get a hammer to produce a nice round, mellow at pp 
and gradually work up to a full bodied, brilliant tone at FF?  Or does this 
area require a very brilliant hammer to get anything?  
     All the rescaling and hammer work in the world will not restore the tone 
of a dead octave right here.  Chris Robinson's expansion rod might help, but 
if there isn't a new board in the piano, that is a huge liability. 
Regards, 



Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html