[pianotech] Big challenge met(finally)

[tnrwim at aol.com]

About two weeks ago we were engaged by a serious amateur player to improve the 
one and touch on his 2005 Mason  Hamlin CC (9'4")
oncert grand. In the almost six years he's owned the instrument, he's had a 
eritable parade of technicians here in southern California
o their best to make the instrument "sound bigger than a 6-foot instrument, and 
o let me play it soft with good repetition" (owner's words.)



David

You and your team obviously did a great job "remanufacturing" this piano so that it sounds and plays like a real 9'4" piano. The question that came to my mind was, why didn't the owner of the piano ask M&H to make the piano better? Or get his money back.

WIm 






-----Original Message-----
From: David Andersen <david at davidandersenpianos.com>
To: Pianotech Pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Sun, Apr 3, 2011 1:20 pm
Subject: [pianotech] Big challenge met(finally)


About two weeks ago we were engaged by a serious amateur player to improve the 
one and touch on his 2005 Mason  Hamlin CC (9'4")
oncert grand. In the almost six years he's owned the instrument, he's had a 
eritable parade of technicians here in southern California
o their best to make the instrument "sound bigger than a 6-foot instrument, and 
o let me play it soft with good repetition" (owner's words.)
ow the piano is in a beautiful performance space in mid-town L.A., and the 
wner has a 7-foot Shigeru Kawai in his house, so the stark
ifference between the pianos is truly glaring.  
When I sat down and played it, it sounded like a really nice Yamaha C2(6'3") or 
5 (6'7") with a weird resistance at the bottom of the keystroke and a generally 
ushy or indefinite feeling. I started to remember another M&H CC my partner 
teve Bellieu and I had worked on five or six years ago that was similar: better 
eeling action, but a really "small" sound for such a big instrument. The 
roblem then? Short blow distance. Concert grands should have a minimum of 46mm 
low; if the action ratio and geometry can support 47 or 48mm, so much the 
etter. 
So: on to diagnostics in the present day----
-Board eval.: good sustain, good bloom in all sections; positive crown, positive 
earing
Blow distance: 39mm (Huh?!!?)
Key travel:	9.75mm (shallow; we prefer 10.25-10.5mm)
Action ratio via Erwin's Ratio Gauge: over 6.0, less than 6.5 (way too high for 
 modern action,
and a huge disparity in ratio between sharps and naturals)
Downweight: 55-58gm
Upweight: 30-32gm
Balance Weight: 42.5-45.0 (too heavy, too resistant; we never like to go beyond 
 39.0 balance weight)
Action spread: 112.60mm (OK; ideal is 112.75mm)
Key leads: very light; one lead in #6; one lead in #20; three leads in the low 
harps; back leads ( behind the balance rail) in keys 66-88 
The shanks were resting or barely off the cushions, so we realized quickly we 
ould have to cut into something important to make this work: the stack was too 
igh. The ratio was too high. Somebody had cut the hammers way, way down in the 
ail; everything was cacked up.
What we did:
lowered the back of the stack 2mm
lowered the front of the stack + - 4mm
moved and custom-set the capstan line (different positions for sharp and 
atural capstans)
re-weighed the keys (added more lead)
peeled back the shank rest cushions (took off about 3 mm of material)
set key travel at 10.5mm
put Crescendo (white Wurzen felt) punchings on the front rail
reglued six hammerheads in the bass that had come loose from the molding
parts-to-strings alignment
bed keyframe, complete action regulation
final blow distance: 47.5mm in bass, 46.5mm in tenor and treble
added mini-binder clips to shanks on wound strings
final Balance Weight: 36.5 in tenor and treble, 38.5 in the bass
regulated pedals, timed dampers
tightened plate bolts
Voiced it
Tuned it
inal tone: way, way bigger and fatter---now it sounds like a balanced 9-foot 
iano with a good (not huge) bass
inal touch: buttery, light, fast, and responsive; repeats with excellence at 
ll volumes
Later, we'll dry-fit test some different hammers on the thing---new Renner 
luePoints and Ronsen 14-lb. Weickerts---with the owner present and see if we 
an sell that work.
 can't wait until he puts his hands on it on Tuesday morning...I LOVE the 
eactions at that time, 'cuz it's literally a different piano;
uge wow factor. 
Moral: if a new-ish piano sounds and feels like sh**t, and the board is good, 
oing more regulation, lubrication, and voicing without changing the 
oundational relationships so they comply is like moving deck chairs around on 
he Titanic---some well-known area techs tried repeatedly and failed to improve 
his piano. The owner told me he's spent "thousands" over the past five years on 
ttempts to make the piano sound and feel better, although (appropriately, IMO) 
e declined to name the attemptees.
cary.
The big take-aways?
)  If you are unable to do the kind of work described above, ASK FOR HELP. 
onsult with a tech/rebuilder who can.
)  EVERY SINGLE MILLIMETER OF BLOW DISTANCE YOU CAN EEK OUT, GO FOR IT. 
hortened blow distances have
 devastating effect on the tone and power of a grand piano.
) It pays to develop your diagnostic skills. Three techs made good money for 
heir involvement in this job---their hourly rate at full retail.
    Collaboration is king.
Best,
David Andersen
os Angeles



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