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<DIV> Hello to all</DIV>
<DIV> A few weeks ago I reported on a project of thinning a very
thick 30 year old Yamaha G-2 Soundboard. (See post below
) <U> FYI a G-2 is 5 ft. 7 inches.</U></DIV>
<DIV> This piano was re strung using Arledge bass wire & mapes Gold
plain wire. The crown was adequate as was bearing. </DIV>
<DIV> We used the Ronsen Wurzen felt. The tonal outcome was beyond
my expectations The overall balance clarity, power & tonal response was
drastically & wonderfully different than the original boring & vanilla
type sound this piano has always had. It is a<STRONG> tremendous</STRONG>
<STRONG>advantage</STRONG> to have had opportunity to despise this particular
piano for 30 years & because I know it so well the subjective
expereince is greatly dimninished and objective observations become
far more focused. Really cool. </DIV>
<DIV> In my shop the acoustic atmosphere is very dry & the tone
is very transparent so it's a challenge to make every thing satisfy my ear in
thsi environment. If it does then the tonal output only improves in the
actual environment. Well.. usually.</DIV>
<DIV> This set of Wurzen felt was uncharacteristically soft & the
piano required a failry firm hammer density. SO it wasn't the usual hang
em on & it's time to rock & roll. However I did have the
oppurtunity to use Steinway style type voicing techniques in a Japanese pianos
& I tell you the results were Humbly beautiful & satisfying. It
frankly took a lot of juicing but in the end I could stick needles in the
hammers though it was not necessary. It required several applications to get
where I wanted to get tonally & though many of you despise this technique
the tone from this method is hard to duplicate. The bass has bite &
power , & the treble has sustain power & dynamic round tone
that the too thick original board could not hope to produce. The sound
floats out of the piano with a shimmer & hangs in mid air. How's that
for subjective? grin</DIV>
<DIV> This piano doesn't sound like any Yamaha I know & the
customer who has owned it's entire life is a fine player. I'd say she was
overjoyed & thrilled to say the least. I truly wish some of you were
here to experience this fun moment in time today.</DIV>
<DIV> Life is good</DIV>
<DIV> Blessings</DIV>
<DIV> Dale</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=3> Fellow Belly heads</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=3> As time goes by I'm starting to have more
opportunity to attempt improvements on Models of Pianos that IMO need
it. My Father Harold, to the right of me sold Yamaha pianos for 20
years. To me the 5 -7" G-2 for some reason was quite a boring
sounding piano. We are currently giving a fairly inexpensive face list
to a 30 year old G-2. It always had a stingy sound & not a very
interesting tonal envelope. We took it in for a hammer transplant
& strings & in the process discovered some of the reason it is
stingy. The 5 ft & 7 " piano has a .400 thick Sika spruce
panel. Not all over but mostly . The thinnest spot I coud find
was >380. The panel has <STRONG>very </STRONG>tight grain as in 25
to 30 grains an inch. It has adequate crown & bearing with
compression visible in the panel & moderate compression ridges in
evidence.... </FONT></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV> <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000><FONT size=3>SO I decided to diaphramize this tubby little beast
to seek improvement. I drilled small access holes (1.5mm) at the
perimeter thru the board in the curved section under the plate. The nose
bolt holes also serve this purpose. This allows for the wire end of a
caliper to protrude thru the holes & the taking of initial
measurements & also to track progess. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=3> I employ a low angle Lie- Nielsen smoothing
plane for the bulk of removal of wood. I'm aiming to get about .340
ish in the middle & about .300 or less around the tail & behind the
bass bridge. The flat side & the belly rail also were thinned. My
goal to create a thinner more flexible dome shaped
panel.</FONT></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><FONT size=3> </FONT><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000 size=2><FONT size=3>A small bull nose type planes allowed for access in tight places such
as the bass bridge to rim. . Interestingly each plank of the board was
laid out so that it had opposing grain or in other words I had to reverse the
direction of planing to reduce tear out on each panel. The tight hard
grain wanted to really tear out every chance it got. The small plane
with approximately 5/8" blade also reduced tear out & surprisingly I did a
lot of grain tear clean up with the small bull nose without further
damage. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=3> After thorough & appropriate
sanding we sealed with shellac & then proceeded
with Lacquer sealer & gloss top coats folowed a good hand rub out
followed by machine buffing with swirl removers which made it look
quite shiny but & not as glossy looking as polyester.
(Nothing wrong with shiny)The original poly coat was 10 mils thick. The 8
coats of lacquer I bet is 5. Nothing wrong with 10 mils either
IMO</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> The boom or tap test really went from thuddy
& tight near the edges to vibrant & boom in the middle sounded much
more free. Trix is half thru stringing it and I will report on the
final out come in a week or so. I consulted with Ron O. about floating
the bass but because of fiscal restraints passed on the idea. We are using
Jolly loops on the first 10 bass mono chord notes to set some of backscale
free.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> All in all we probably spent about 3 ish hours
planing & sanding less than 3 ish hours for the rest. No more than
8 hours</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> It will be an interesting project & beleive it
will prove to make the poor girls intrument far more interesting & she
deserves it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> Having fun here</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> Dale Erwin</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3> Dale Erwin</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3><FONT lang=0 face="Book Antiqua" FAMILY="SERIF" PTSIZE="10">Dale Erwin--Piano Restorations<BR>4721 Parker Rd.<BR>Modesto,
Calif 95357<BR>Shop 209-577-8397<BR>cell 209-985-0990<BR></FONT><FONT lang=0 face="Abadi MT Condensed" color=#000000 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="12"><A title=http://www.erwinspiano.com/ href="http://www.erwinspiano.com/">http://www.erwinspiano.com/</A></FONT></FONT><FONT lang=0 face="Book Antiqua" color=#000000 FAMILY="SERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><FONT size=3>Specializing in the restoration, service & Sales of<BR>Steinway,
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