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<DIV>
<DIV> Hi Ed</DIV>
<DIV> Ditto --Dittos-- Dittos.--- I have been of the same opinion
for a very long time. I once owned a 1926 L with original Wire. Even the
bass strings were strong & solid & had the very characteristic Steinway
sonority. I know you know what I mean Ed. </DIV>
<DIV> When I re strung it..... it was a disappointment.
Oddly..it was especially the plain wire. I'm sure we could have better
wire than what is currently available. Why can't we make a close personal
contact with a wire maker & have some dialogue. Can I go.
J.D's going with me...right J.D.?</DIV>
<DIV> Any one else?</DIV>
<DIV> Has any one any opinions or experience with Japanese wire? Or
a source. I like the Mapes Gold better than the Roslau but I recently had
a piano come back from 6 months in the desert near Palm Springs & the new
wire was fairly corroded. The place was near the freeway but is this
common?</DIV>
<DIV>Dale Erwin</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>Greetings, <BR> I suppose I have been looking around for
some heresy, lately. The <BR>temperament cauldron is simmering on a back
burner, periodically boiling over in <BR>harmonic sizzles. Some of us
just have to tend to it, others ignore it, many are <BR>not even in the
kitchen, but acknowledge the occasinal burst of steam and <BR>flavors, (along
with the shouting and banging of pots and kettles).<BR> But
that's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to hear what others
<BR>had to say about wire. Old wire. Wire that has been played
near the extreme <BR>limits. I have two examples:<BR> 1.
I recently examined a 1917 Steinway M. Totally alligatored
case. I <BR>mean it. One of the most profound alligatoring I have
ever seen, and very few <BR>dints, anywhere. Not a single broken
string in it. It had been in a <BR>teacher's studio for decades and used
for all day, most every day. It had been <BR>regulated once in its
lifetime, hammers had 1 inch long flat spots and almost no
<BR>felt covering the underfelt or core. It played like a truck, and the
sound <BR>was like listening to rocks swimming in oatmeal. Wear
and verdegris were <BR>competing for attention anywhere you
looked. <BR> The owner is
looking for maximum musical performance, so I <BR>suggested that she replace
everything in the action, except for the keys, key frame, <BR>and action
rails. Go all the way from the pedals to the damper heads. And
<BR>don't touch the stringing. Even with the refinishing, don't restring
it. She <BR>agreed. This was after she had played approx. 18
Steinway grands I have <BR>rebuilt or regulated, (one advantage of being a
CAUT). <BR>2. I lease a 1914 model O to the Nashville
Jazz Workshop. It lives in <BR>mild victorian temperament,(oohh, a
little hiss on the back burner...). One <BR>Steinway artist said she had
never had a bad night on that piano, and it is <BR>generally looked on with
great favor. I have two actions for it, and pieced it <BR>together out of two
pianos, with legs and lyre and stuff from one on the body of <BR>the
other. Well known jazz pianists have played this piano and like
it. I <BR>have seen some of the younger ones hit this piano, really
hard. It has the <BR>original wire in it. <BR>
<BR> While the idea of fully rebuilding both
of these with new pinblocks <BR>and wire is appealing,(the boards are nice and
alive, which I find in about 1 <BR>out of 7 Steinways over 80 years
old), I don't know that it would be a <BR>musical improvement.
Both of these pianos sound really good and are almost free of <BR>false beats.
Nice bridges and the pinblocks are also very tunable with <BR>original pins in
them. In short, they sound great with a new hammer under them, so I
<BR>am wondering what it to be gained. It can always be done later
without <BR>undoing the work being done now. <BR>
What strikes me is that the plain wire on these pianos is superior to <BR>what
is being used today. That it is, for all purposes, unbreakable, and
<BR>produces such a consistantly nice musical tone, baffles me.
How could steel making <BR>not be better today than it was during World War I
? <BR> I service quite a few modern pianos in heavy
use. They break strings <BR>and they have an enormously larger number of
false beats. While bridge <BR>notching and pinning and Capo bar
condition are each a large factor in this, the wire <BR>itself creates the
quality of the note. I have had metallurgists tell me <BR>that the
contamination of metals is a problem everywhere, as recycled metals get
<BR>mixed, to a degree, and purity is expensive. And most of the steel in this
<BR>country is made from recycling scrap. But music wire??? <BR>
Anybody privy to the standards for metal used as music wire
today? <BR> <BR>Regards, <BR>Ed
Foote</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
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