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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=968061915-19102006><FONT face=Garamond
color=#800000>Hey Jason,</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=968061915-19102006><FONT face=Garamond
color=#800000></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=968061915-19102006><FONT face=Garamond
color=#800000>Any way you could scan in or otherwise copy that Sanderson handout
and send it to me?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=968061915-19102006><FONT face=Garamond
color=#800000></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=968061915-19102006><FONT face=Garamond
color=#800000>Thanks.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=968061915-19102006><FONT face=Garamond
color=#800000></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=968061915-19102006><FONT face=Garamond
color=#800000>Alan</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=968061915-19102006><FONT face=Garamond
color=#800000></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=968061915-19102006><FONT face=Garamond
color=#800000> </FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=968061915-19102006><FONT
size=2>--Alan McCoy, RPT<BR>Inland Northwest Chapter<BR>Spokane,
WA<BR>ahm@webband.com</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left> </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B>
pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <B>On Behalf Of
</B>Jason Kanter<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 18, 2006 11:24
PM<BR><B>To:</B> Pianotech List<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re: High tension? Low? Board
stiffness? was Hammer Types<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#008080 size=2>According to a handout from Dr. Albert
Sanderson, the ranges for "very low" to "very high" tension scales
are:</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#008080 size=2>Monochords: 200 to 290
pounds</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#008080 size=2>Bichords: 160 to 235
pounds</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#008080 size=2>Trichords: 140 to 200
pounds</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#008080 size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#008080 size=2>He also provides a graph of
low-to-high inharmonicity, but this is more difficult to describe. For High,
the graph of inharmonicity constant B, in cents, goes from 0.24 at note 1,
down to a low of 0.13 at note 18, and then rises steadily to 21.0 at note
88.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#008080 size=2>For Low, these three points are 0.21
at note 1, 0.1 at note 21, and 10.2 at note 88.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#008080 size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#008080 size=2>Jason</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #008080 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=ahm@webband.com href="mailto:ahm@webband.com">Alan McCoy</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">'Pianotech List'</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 18, 2006 10:46
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> High tension? Low? Board
stiffness? was Hammer Types</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left>
<P>Hi,</P>
<P>In the recent hammer types thread David Love and others talked about
high-tension and low-tension scales. Quantitatively what does that mean? I'd
like to see some actual, real-world parameters as to the upper and lower
limits <SPAN class=296414205-19102006>of</SPAN> tension for
high-tension and low-tension scales. Would these parameters change
correspondingly as the size of the piano changes? </P>
<P>Ditto for inharmonicity. </P>
<P>I don't ask for much, do I?! ;-)</P>
<P>While we're at it, can soundboard stiffness be evaluated (at least
qualitatively) on your basic fully-strung piano in someone's living room?
What are the major factors that define stiffness? Does downbearing play a
role here? I'm looking for an answer that has specific, measurable
quantities like, "A stiff system has ribs spaced x inches apart with each
rib notched into the rim. Ribs are x inches in profile under the long bridge
tapering to x inches then tapering to x inches at the rim. A stiff board is
x inches thick under the long bridge tapering to ......, whereas a flexible
system ..................." And also, "X piano brand is a good example of a
stiff system, whereas x pianos use a more flexible system..........." You
get the idea.</P>
<P>The other thing in this thread that got my attention was the description
of the hammer types matched to the Walter scale. I installed a set of Ronsen
Wurzen hammers on a Baldwin L last year. I would characterize the sound as
being darker and colorful, and maybe needing a little juice especially in
the top 2 octaves for a bit more definition. Needling was not even a
consideration for these hammers on this piano . But David's description of
the Wurzens on the Walter paints a very different picture of Ronsen Wurzens.
So what gives? Is there a lot of difference in Wurzens from set to set? Or
is it that if we were to put the same Wurzens on the Baldwin L and then the
Walter, we would have "dark" hammers on one, but "bright" hammers on the
other, the explanation being that the tone produced is a function of the
interaction of the hammer with the board system? Is it possible for their to
be enough difference in the board system to produce such different tone
(needling like hell vs. maybe needing a bit of juice) from the same type of
hammer (assuming the hammers are identical)?</P>
<P>Trying to educate myself. Thanks for any responses<SPAN
class=296414205-19102006> and thanks also to David for initiating this
interesting thread.</SPAN></P>
<P>Alan</P>
<P><FONT face=Garamond color=#800000></FONT> </P></DIV><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> David Love
[mailto:davidlovepianos@comcast.net] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October
11, 2006 10:55 PM<BR><B>To:</B> 'Pianotech List'<BR><B>Subject:</B>
Changing the tone on tone: was RE: Hammer Types<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=navy
size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">“They don’t make
pianofortes anymore, they just make fortes”</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Paraphrased
remark attributed to Dale Erwin’s father that has always stuck with
me.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Cellist to
Pianist: “Can’t you play any softer”</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Pianist:
“Well, actually…no, I can’t”</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Conversation
overheard at a rehearsal of the Brahms B Major Trio:</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Tone is
everything in piano work, in my view. The rest is secondary,
or simply mechanical. There’s no precise language for it like
Alizarin Crimson or burnt garlic, and so it’s difficult to talk about with
any assurance that your experience is the same as mine. We can only
assume that the words we choose describe the sound that I think you might
be hearing—if you are. In spite of how my views have been
misrepresented, I am really quite open about tone. There are a broad
range of possibilities and a variety of tastes to go with them. I
have customers who love their Yamahas, the bright and powerfully
percussive tone they offer and those who wouldn’t be caught dead playing
one for the same reasons. I have Steinway customers who long for
that dark, warm, singing tone that they recall from their childhood and
others whose Steinways simply can’t be made bright enough or loud
enough. When it comes to addressing the needs of a particular piano
or customer preferences, we need to be open to what the piano can deliver
and what the customer wants. And I am. “Whatever you want” is
my mantra when it comes to customer work, even if I wouldn’t choose it
myself. When rebuilding a piano with original materials I always
engage customers in a discussion about tone, what they like, or don’t
like, how I can make the piano to best suit their tastes. If they
want something that will be difficult to achieve with a given piano, I
tell them. I might even go so far as to say that if that’s what they
want, they own the wrong piano. It can happen. Each piano’s
design pushes its tonal signature in one direction or the other.
Scale design, soundboard design and health, rim structure, plate design,
all contribute to the direction in which the piano can comfortably be
pushed. Try to make it into something it’s not and you end up with a
mediocre result at best (a structural disaster at worst). Will the
customer be happy anyway? They might. It’s likely that
whatever you do to a piano that is on the brink of disintegration will be
an improvement. Sometimes we have to be content to do that—and
certainly I have. </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">When working with
old and tired soundboards, we must (in today’s parlance) accept them for
what they are. Trying to get them to perform as if they were new and
expecting the same type of tone generally leads to a disappointing
result. Accepting the structural and thereby tonal changes that
occur with old boards allows us, if we listen carefully, to perhaps modify
our scale design, pick a more suitable hammer now than the original and/or
modify our voicing strategy to make the best of what the board still has
to offer. That can lead to a very acceptable, even beautiful
result. But it will be different from the original no matter what we
do and the sooner we accept that, the better off we are. We can try
and force our own tastes onto the piano but, if we are honest, only in so
far as the piano’s design or condition allows. </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">When it comes to
building a piano from the ground up, however, or reengineering a scale and
soundboard, then we are absolved of all previous commitments and we have
real choices that we can make (existing plate considerations
notwithstanding). High, medium or low tension scales are where
things start. From the low tension scales of </SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Estonia</SPAN></FONT><FONT
face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> to the high
tension scales characterized by many Japanese pianos, each one will have
their own soundboard requirements, hammer requirements and accompanying
tonal character. I happen to like low tension sound (but not too
low) better than high tension sound, so left to my own devices I would
chose a platform that supports that preference. If tonal
expectations of a customer were better associated with a high tension
scale, however, then, given the means, I would be fine to build that as
well. Either way, I would expect that design differences would
produce differences in tonal character (let’s put the wart issue aside for
now) and that accompanying hammer requirements as well as voicing
requirements would also be different. </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">In summary, each
scale and soundboard assembly pushes the instrument in a particular
direction. While there is always a range of possibilities within any
particular design, each design does carry its own tonal bias. As
piano technicians, trying to bring out the best in each piano we come
across, we hear those differences intuitively. We adjust our
expectations according to each instrument and each instrument becomes our
temporary standard for the possibilities of good tone. If we find
something that appeals to us we tend to latch onto it and carry it around
as our model. But that can hurt as well as help us. It helps
us by giving us a higher standard for each piano we encounter. It
hurts us in that the expectations we carry forward are not always
realistic—or desirable—for the next instrument and we can end up trying to
force the piano toward our ideal with a poorer result than if we’d been
open to what the piano really had to offer in the first place.
Power, brightness, sustain, clarity, warmth, richness, dynamic
range: in a piano we don’t get to simply opt for the maximum amount of
each. They all exist in a multi-dimensional continuum in which you
sometimes trade one for another in a never ending balancing act achieved
both by design and execution. There are, no doubt, many acceptable
formulas within that continuum dictated by a variety of factors, not the
least of which is just exactly what music is being played. We should
probably accept that in so far as there are a variety of tonal formulas as
well as musical requirements, no single piano (or treatment) will be
perfect for all types of music, players, audiences or technicians.
So when given the opportunity, why not be faithful to ourselves?
Vive la difference! </SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<DIV>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy">David
Love<BR>davidlovepianos@comcast.net<BR>www.davidlovepianos.com</SPAN></FONT><FONT
color=navy><SPAN style="COLOR: navy"> </SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></SPAN></FONT> </P></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>