[pianotech] square grand sound clips and pics

[Joseph Garrett]

Terry,
Yes, I did get the other sound clips. However they are Appleknocker thangs
and I don't have an Appleknocker 'puter! No clue how to access the "bites".
Grrrrr! As for the Ivory. Unless they are chipped, I'd leave them alone.
The front cracks are very common, as the front underlayment was a fruitwood
with the grain cross laminated to the grain of the key and the Ivory.
Really stupid on Steinway's part, but it is what it is. That sort of thing
adds "Charm" to the instrument, imo. Even tho all is bright and shiny like
new, it's still an olde instrument and should be perceived that way. In my
eyes that's a plus!<G> I'll see what I can to do regarding the sound clips
thang. I really want to hear this beast in all it's glory. 
I use Roslau wire, as it's softer and doesn't add to the tension as I've
calculated in the Scale Assessment/Change (if nec.) The core wire of the
bass strings you got from J.D. Grandt is Roslau.<G>
The overall sound of Square Grands should be "Warm". The top treble will be
what it is, as the lengths are wrong, for any wire/soundboard/bridge
combination. I see that this one stransitions from wood/pin terminaton to
agraffes in the killer octave area. That was a good decision on Steinways
part. In later models they got rid of that and it didn't sound as good,
imo. I suspect that was a cost-cutting thing. :-(  
Most of the "art work" on pianos was done by Asians, so it had/has a
slightly "tacky" look to it. I've done a few that had absolutely georgous
flowers and pinstripping that really knocked your eyes out! I have a bunch
of photos of the First major, serious grand rebuild, I did. It was a
Kimball 6'?" of early 1900 vintage. I had a friend who was an artist. He
redid it all after the regilting. I took "panoramic" photos of the whole
thing in order for him to have the map of how the artwork, (sorta), looked.
He took that and really ran with it. The owner was, of course,
astounded/flabbergasted and major delighted. I suspect your client is the
same.
BTW, I am extremely delighted that you have posted all of this. It will,
hopefully, shame the "purists" that sneer at this sort of effort. After
all, pianos are made to be played and to give great pleasure, not
squirreled away in some dusty damned museum. <G> (that'll probably ruffle
some major feathers, but ???whatever.<G>)
Best Regards,
Joe


> [Original Message]
> From: Terry Farrell <mfarrel2 at tampabay.rr.com>
> To: <joegarrett at earthlink.net>; <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Date: 2/10/2013 1:17:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [pianotech] square grand sound clips and pics
>
> So Joe - if you look at my post about 4 minutes after my original, you
will find working sound clips. Did you find them? Did you listen to them?
I'd like to get your comments on the sound clips.
>
> Didn't know about the wire. What kind do you use? IMHO, the Mapes Gold
sounds great! Pretty much all the slow dampening is in the bass - not the
plain wire. I think the piano has a lovely warm sound to it.
>
> Thanks for the compliments. Yes, I like the art work the gal (art student
at local university) I hired did - the original art work in the bass area
was really tacky.
>
> Ivory keys. I didn't do anything to them - they are original. They are
yellowed and some are cracked at the front edges - none are chipped. When
the owner accumulates some more $$ she will have me go to town on the keys
with AcriliKey.
>
> Terry Farrell
>
> On Feb 10, 2013, at 12:55 PM, Joseph Garrett wrote:
>
> > Terry the Ferrell said:
> > "The first sound clip is really directed to Joe Garret, with the
question:
> > Is the amount of damper leakage heard in these sound clips appropriate
for
> > this type of instrument? I know you say that the damper system on
American
> > square grands won't cut off like on a modern grand, and these certainly
> > don't - but they do stop after a couple seconds - and it's only the bass
> > strings that really make the real slow damping (both when they are
played
> > and that they will ring sympathetically). In the first clip a 10 year
old
> > Yamaha C3 in good condition (off a cruise ship) is played also for
> > comparison.
> > 
> > The second clip is directed to Ron Nossaman who re-did the string scale.
> > Bass strings are by J. D. Grant and plain wire is Mapes Gold. Scale
sounds
> > very nice to me. :-) Sorry for the couple high treble notes out of tune.
> > :-("
> > 
> > Terry,
> > I am unable to open the sound clips! Please send in a single email,
> > privately. Thanks. As for the damper "efficiency", w/o even hearing it,
I
> > will tell you that is the way it was INTENDED. However, the use of Mapes
> > Gold wire will exacerbate that in the mid treble, as well, since it is
TOO
> > HARD/BRITTLE. I definately would NEVER use that wire on an old
instrument.
> > It is completely opposite of the wire orignally used. Tsk! Tsk!<G>)
That is
> > what happens when a "modern guy" attempts something really "olde"<G>
> > However the rest of the work looks really well done. The color of the
plate
> > is a bit too silver, but a small point. (Probably the picture
> > media/computer raster/whatever.Those plates were guilded using varnish,
> > which gave a "soft" colored gold. Most Steinway plate color had a bit of
> > burnt umber in them as well. The artwork is exquisite! Just like it
should
> > be. All brass appears to be highly polished and hopefully lacqered.<G>
I'm
> > curious about the key tops. Is that plastic I'm seeing!????? I hope
not. 
> > I'm hoping to figure out some way to  get those sound bites to work. As
for
> > the out of tune unisons in the high treble....well, it's "authentic".<G>
> > Best
> > Joe
> > 
> > 
> > Joe Garrett, R.P.T.
> > Captain of the Tool Police
> > Squares R I
> > http://gpianoworks.com/
> >