Steinway B Scale Conversion

[Erwinspiano at aol.com]

Hi Bob
  All god questions.  The answer is part  economics & part Philosphy

This low  tenor is a problem I am finding pretty
consistently on B's.  I have  four B's that I service
and the tonal problem on the first 3 to 5  plain
strings is worse the older the piano is.  The 1978 B
is the  oldest I tune and it is really bad.  
     Bob, you have discovered what many  Belly heads /Tech's & Musicians have 
come to consider a huge  engineering fault or weakness in the Stwy B and also 
in other 7 ft &  shorter  pianos with this configuration.
  On your 1978 B may I suggest that the worse the board is  the more voicing 
difficulty you will encounter.  Or & also even if the  boards be agreeable the 
hammer care in this piano is critical to masking  some of this inherent 
weakness.  BTW I will also state that many of my  favorite S&S's pianos come from 
the CBS years & not from the magic  1920's. Yes the actions were dismal 
(teflon)but the belly men were doing a  good job by in large & using nice tight grain 
Sitka spruce which holds up  better under C.C. methods than Eastern or 
Engleman  spruce.
   Also In case you missed any of the strike line  discussion recently the 
treble strike lines in B's can make even a good sounding  board, be it original 
or replaced, sound weak & nasal. 
  Still we/I love the piano with all it's  warts.
 
How would you rate the severity of the problem on the
1953  B? 
  The problem is the same on all B's & this one no  exception.
 
  Also, on a board that is 53 years old don't
you have some  trepidation about how good of a job it
will be doing in the next 10 - 20  years after all this
work and expense?
 
  Excellent question. In this specific case I have zero  trepidation. In 
others where I'm sensing some or if I have any, the board comes  out.
   My general philosophy is if ain't broke  ......don't fix it.  But I'm not 
one to avoid the just fix it, in case you  haven't noticed. 
  There are no cracks in the board & little if any  compression ridge damage 
in evidence. This piano came from a one owner  family in the San Diego region, 
a very meditaranean climate.  It had no  bearing but adequate but marginal 
crown. I did the action replacement first  & the piano had a lovely dark singing 
voice prior to belly  work. 
  I purchased the piano for resale. If the piano needed a  board it would 
have gotten one. That being said , the piano has received a new  custom made pin 
block. I lowered the treble end 1 mm to pick up treble bearing  & the plate 
dowels were just high enough so that when I cut them down the  plate after being 
lowered made the bearing & the crown a very good  match.  The improved sound, 
because of this procedure, has produced a  wonderful sounding instrument that 
in my opinion can go 25 to 30 years down the  road & still produce a stunning 
& excellent musical sound.  
  One thing to keep in mind about Steinways is, that in my  opinion, & based 
on my experience, compared to the  crown of new rib  crowned/supported boards, 
most Stwys have/had little crown to start with.  It's my opinion tonally the 
S&S's get by with fairly little  crown as long there is some bearing. Many 
things work when it comes to  boards & tonal output.  I don't have all the 
answers but I do  know tonal vitality when I hear it.
  
 
 How do you weigh the possibility of
it losing the ability to do  its job in the future?  If
it's done well for this long, perhaps it will  continue
for another 53.
 
  First, all boards will eventually lose there  ability, however,  I am 
confident of this piano's  ability  to project & produce a very good sound for a 
long time.   It's not overloaded with bearing & the crown in the board is being 
utilized.  Even though the board is pushed basically  flat keep in mind many 
Stwys work well with  original boards in this configuration. Also the Ca. 
climate is easy on the C.C.  crowned soundboards.
  In cases like this any technician crawling under neath  with a belly string 
trying to determine crown will state he didn't find any. But  don't make the 
mistake of thinking the board isn't set up right especially when  it has the 
voice of an Angel!
 
  The pianos for sale if any one's  interested
  Regards
 Dale

Bob Hull

 



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