SV: Recommend Rebuilder? / Ron Overs

[RicB]

Hi Ed..

Gee... and I kinda thought I had all your (anticipated from somewhere or 
another) comments pretty well covered with the bit about <<in the eye of 
the market>>

Cheers
RicB


    RicB offers:

    <<  The choice here is not so much who does the work first and 
    formost... but what kind of a rebuild one wants.  If you want to go
    as authentic in the eye of the market, and perhaps stay as close to
    tradition as possible.. then perhaps the Steinway rebuild shop is
    the place to go.  >>

        Ed de'Foote replies

        Perhaps, but perhaps not.  
            It depends on what you mean by authentic.  More than a few
        "traditions"
        have been left behind.  The modern factory boards are not the
        same as the
        boards of the 1920's.  Different grade of wood, different
        adhesives, and from what
        I can measure, different means of tapering the edges.  There is
        certainly a
        different standard of craftsmanship, particularly in the
        notching. The fitting
        of the boards into the cases also seems to have allowed the ends
        of the ribs to
        be slightly short of the case sides, which, imho, has profound
        implications
        for the entrainment of the structure.
               I have also been wondering why the modern Steinways, both
        production
        and restoration ones, have so many more false beating strings
        than instruments
        of 70 years ago. And I wonder why I have seen more than a few
        bass strings
        from the 1910's through the 1960's that sounded better than the
        current
        production.  
             Same goes for their action work. Different ratios,
        different hammers,
        different quality control.  
        It is so easy to say "factory=original quality"  but that is not
        what
        happens.  Truly authentic would mean doing it the same way it
        used to be done, and
        that is simply does not appear to be the case, today.
         
        Ed Foote RPT