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<DIV>Which wire was on the piano near Palm Springs?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>br</DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 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=Erwinspiano@aol.com
href="mailto:Erwinspiano@aol.com">Erwinspiano@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, October 24, 2007 6:46
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: down to the wire</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>
<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>
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