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<DIV><FONT size=3> By the way Ric All</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> Although I'm not a big historical sound guy I do
respect it's merits & romantic notion of preserving history.
The Sac. & Modest chapters have just experienced
Billl Schulls Class on Early Steinway designs there are some things to=
consider when engaging this approach & a huge one is scaling, type of wi=
re
& original pitch design. In the mid 1880s The pitch levels went anywhere=
from A-430 to A-457. 457 is roughly !/2 step above modern pitch. =
All
those short stwy scales were possible because of wire made before =
;
extrusion was common & it was called iron wire. Bills research which is =
both
<STRONG><U>Massive</U></STRONG> & <STRONG><EM><U>intensive
</U></EM></STRONG>has concluded that if one is restoring to original scales =
that
pure sound wire is closer to the original iron wire which is softer bu=
t
tonally more consistent with the wire produced during that time. He &a=
mp;
I both agree, if your replacing the board then move or replace the
bridge.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> Joe. I suspect your Chickering would have similar=
concerns unless you moved the bridge around, made a new one or rescaled it.
Jonas Chickering was as brilliant as he was the wildest cutting e=
dge
man of his time & man & there's no telling what he would be
culpable of. In our shop we have a saying, <STRONG><U>Jonas what were you
thinking?</U></STRONG> The man obviously didn't get much sleep. Totally
driven.!!!!!!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> As to recrowning your panel Ric. I also suggest yo=
u try
figure out what species do wood was used in ribbing & then try to find o=
ld
supplies of it or recylce this type of material out of old uprights. It's
probaly some typpe of pine common on the continent & close to where the
piano was made. Know what I mean?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3><STRONG><U> Also the way you rib it has Way more t=
o do
with the sound than the wood on top. IMO. </U></STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> I'd seriously consider a new more sane bridg=
e root
& thus scale ,Maybe not radical ,but his scales, from what I
researched were always changing & all over the map. SO what's really
original???</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> Dale</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><=
FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>------------<BR>Terry and Calvin<BR><BR>Calin has it right Terry.=
This
is going to be as much a historical <BR>restoration as I can make it while=
managing the best playability result <BR>as is possible. <STRONG>My plan i=
s to
draw the cracked soundboard back together, <BR>re-crown the old panel with=
rib
crowning to whatever radius I end up <BR>finding out is most likely the
origional design,</STRONG> and install a new <BR>bridge to match the
origional. Rib crowning is my choice here because I <BR>want to use the
origional panel with its origional markings and decals. <BR>I wont bother
getting into the old wood argument other then to say that <BR>this is an o=
ld
piano and I want that age to remain intact as much as <BR>possible. That s=
aid,
I fully expect that if I could compare identically <BR>rib crowned panels,=
one
with this old panel and another with new wood, <BR>that they would sound
noticably different. But I'll leave that there.
:)<BR>/</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"=
>Erwins Pianos
Restorations <BR>4721 Parker Rd.<BR>Modesto, Ca 95357<BR>209-577-8397<BR>Reb=
uilt
Steinway , Mason &Hamlin
Sales<BR>www.Erwinspiano.com</FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>