[pianotech] GH-1s

[Ron Nossaman]

On 12/17/2012 8:30 AM, Jim Ialeggio wrote:
> Ron wrote:
>
> <Finding three wrapped strings in the same unison that match well
> doesn't seem likely in my experience. Bichords are more likely to match,
> and be easier to tune. It's easier to mate strings to hammers with
> bichords than trichords
>
> For me, this reasoning, in and of itself, trumps other considerations,
> particularly since the numbers can often be worked out with bichords. In
> a contest of wills, the limits of the material always wins.

In my experience, so far the numbers can always be worked out with 
bichords. I haven't yet found an instance when I had to fall back on 
trichords when I had permission to redesign.


> Taking this discussion past dealing with a challenging break, my own
> take on small belly scaling issues, which has not been discussed as of
> yet, is to take advantage of  newer lower tensile strength cores, ie
> Paullelo and Pure Sound wire. They offer other possibilities as far as
> maintaining appropriate BP% with poorly laid out bridges, which were not
> available before.

I decline to use the stuff, and in fact turned down free wire that was 
offered for me to try. The first thing everyone thinks of when they want 
to deviate from the traditional, presumably to improve performance in 
some way, is to go directly to exotic materials for the magic bullet. My 
pianos all have standard agraffes, bridge pins, and wire. The guy who 
does the post apocalypse service on these pianos has enough trouble 
fighting his way through the zombies to get there without having to 
guess what the strings are made of. He'll be able to take measurements 
and order a string from anyone that, if the measurements are followed 
and string makers still exist, will be a pretty good match for what I 
installed. Everything I do in a piano uses normal supply house supplies 
for that reason. I expect to make improvements with rational design 
changes, not rely on magic bullets unidentifiable after installation. 
Everything in my pianos is exactly what it appears to be, whether the 
next guy understands what it does or not, he should still be able to 
make repairs with standard materials if he doesn't seat the strings at 
the vertical hitches to "fix" em'.



> In addition, I think the conventional string scaling of a small belly
> makes tonal assumptions which are at odds with the physical limitations
> of a small belly presents, and at odds with the small home venues these
> pianos will populate. Using the lower tensile strength wire throughout
> the bass and a fair amount of the tenor, in concert with modern
> conventional wire, I shoot for a tension profile, that makes it easier
> for the small belly to play to its strengths rather than accentuate the
> fact that it is much smaller than its steroid chomping big brothers.

Again, I disagree. Design the scale and belly to produce what's 
appropriate for a small piano and you can use standard materials. You 
can put a high compression thick panel in a small instrument, put big 
heavy hard hammers on it, and blow the stain off the paneling in the 
music room, or you can build a lighter thinner, very low compression 
panel and put light cold pressed springy hammers on it and make a sweet 
parlor instrument. That's what design is for. As to string scaling, the 
top half of a 4-1/2' grand is pretty close to interchangeable with a 9' 
except for heavier wire diameters and higher tensions in the big piano. 
The hardest part of scaling and redesign for small pianos is the bass. 
Then the transitions.


> I find a disconnect between tonal assumptions appropriate for large
> venue pianos and the big piano tonal assumptions which have been grafted
> onto instruments whose power and intended venues are qualitatively
> different than their big brothers. This disconnect, in my opinion, is
> the "cause" of much small belly inadequacy...and this disconnect
> continues to this day, to define and unfairly limit small belly design,
> and, mind bogglingly, define upright design as well.

The ubiquitous mindset of louder=better, so MUCH louder=MUCH better will 
have to be overcome first. I don't really think that putting low tensile 
strength wire on a poorly designed belly is the answer.
Ron N