<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:v = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1 = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16525" name=GENERATOR><o:SmartTagType name="PostalCode" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="State" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="City" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="place" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType><o:SmartTagType name="PersonName" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"></o:SmartTagType> <STYLE>  </STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY lang=EN-US vLink=purple link=blue> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=140565816-13102007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>Earlier this year my shop did just such a project. And early Wurlitzer grand, about 5' in length. (Don't ask how we came by such a piano--it's too sad a story to repeat!) </FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=140565816-13102007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=140565816-13102007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>We did pretty much as Dean described. We epoxied the soundboard (as per my Journal articles). We moved the bass bridge forward as far as it would go without serious plate grinding and shortened the cantilever appropriately. We did not float the soundboard but we did thin out the area between the bass bridge mounting foot and the inner rim. I rescaled the whole piano; it's now nicely in the low-tension range. This included dropping the tensions through the bass quite a bit; in this piano the wraps (which I think were original, but couldn't tell for sure) were quite large. As were the core diameters; they are now some thinner. The bass strings are by Arledge (though the scaling is mine) and they do use European loops. And, of course, it got all of the usual stuff like a new pinblock (standard, multi-lam), cleaned and reamed agraffes, dressed V-bar, etc. The hammers are Ronsen/Bacon and, no, they did not require any lacquer to make the piano sing. </FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=140565816-13102007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=140565816-13102007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080><SPAN class=140565816-13102007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>And sing it does! No, it's not a big piano but the upper bass, tenor and treble sections don't seem to know that. The piano is located in a small music room about the size of a large bedroom along with several other musical instruments. The only voicing I've done so far has been to sand the hammers a bit through the upper tenor and treble (about 15 minutes worth) and, after the piano was delivered, to needle down the tenor a bit. The power/sustain balance is excellent as are the timbrel dynamics. </FONT></SPAN></FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=140565816-13102007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080><SPAN class=140565816-13102007></SPAN></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=140565816-13102007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080><SPAN class=140565816-13102007> </SPAN>Our job cost on the project was around $7,500 (including some finish work) and the buyer is delighted. He had been on the verge of buying a somewhat more expensive new piano until he played the Wurlitzer. We sold him the piano for somewhat more than the street price of the various Chinese/Indonesian piano and (sadly, after the fact) though we did make a profit on the deal we later learned he'd have happily paid considerably more for the piano than he did! He was simply unable to find that kind of sound in a new piano.</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=140565816-13102007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080></FONT></SPAN> </DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=140565816-13102007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080>Del</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=140565816-13102007> <P><FONT size=2>Delwin D Fandrich<BR>Piano Design & Manufacturing Consultant<BR>620 South Tower Avenue<BR>Centralia, Washington 98531  USA<BR>Phone  360.736-7563<BR><<A href="mailto:fandrich@pianobuilders.com">mailto:fandrich@pianobuilders.com</A>> </FONT></P></SPAN></DIV> <DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=140565816-13102007><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#000080> </FONT></SPAN></DIV><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000080 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left> <HR tabIndex=-1> <FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Dean May<BR><B>Sent:</B> October 13, 2007 5:34 AM<BR><B>To:</B> 'Pianotech List'<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: 1920's Wurli Grand<BR></FONT><BR></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV class=Section1> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">You should tell her that you can make it better, but you can’t make it sound like a 9 foot.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Del Fandrich talks about improving the sound on small grands with a couple of tricks, neither for the faint hearted. First you rescale the bass, positioning the bass bridge as far forward as the plate will allow. You are trying to eliminate the apron and increase the backscale length. <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Del</st1:place></st1:State> has empirically proven that aprons absorb all the lower frequencies of the strings leaving nothing to go into the soundboard. When ordering the strings specify the very short Jolly Loop. Or better yet, replace the hitch pins with vertical pins that have a little grove cut around the top. The groove allows the string to pivot more freely up and down as the string oscillates.  Make sure you use high quality bass strings- I recommend Arledge. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The second thing you can do is “float” the soundboard. This involves making a cut through the soundboard in the tail area and reinforcing the cut edge. Alternatively, you can router a groove around the perimeter of the soundboard in that area. Search the archives for more info here. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I would recommend you hire <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Del</st1:place></st1:State> as a consultant if you want to pursue either avenue: <A href="mailto:fandrich@pianobuilders.com">fandrich@pianobuilders.com</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial color=navy size=2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <DIV> <P class=MsoAutoSig><B><FONT face="Bradley Hand ITC" color=navy size=6><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; FONT-SIZE: 22pt; COLOR: navy; FONT-FAMILY: 'Bradley Hand ITC'">Dean</SPAN></FONT></B><FONT color=navy><SPAN style="COLOR: navy"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoAutoSig style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><U1:PERSONNAME u2:st="on"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: navy">Dean May</U1:PERSONNAME>             cell 812.239.3359 <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoAutoSig style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: navy">PianoRebuilders.com   812.235.5272 <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P> <P class=MsoAutoSig style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><U1:PLACE u2:st="on"><U1:CITY u2:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=navy size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: navy">Terre Haute</SPAN></FONT></st1:City><FONT color=navy><SPAN style="COLOR: navy"></U1:CITY> <U1:STATE u2:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">IN</U1:STATE></st1:State>  <U1:POSTALCODE u2:st="on"><st1:PostalCode w:st="on">47802</U1:POSTALCODE></st1:PostalCode></SPAN></FONT></st1:place></U1:PLACE><o:p></o:p></P></DIV> <DIV> <DIV class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> <HR tabIndex=-1 align=center width="100%" SIZE=2> </SPAN></FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>