<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16640" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=alan@forsythalan.wanadoo.co.uk href="mailto:alan@forsythalan.wanadoo.co.uk">alan forsyth</A> </DIV> <DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV> <DIV><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, July 05, 2008 10:42 PM</DIV> <DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: Real Customizing of a piano</DIV></DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>My, my, you guys grow more cynical with age. So where can I get a hold of these wonderful decals?</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2>Gerry Attrick</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE 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=rnossaman@cox.net href="mailto:rnossaman@cox.net">Ron Nossaman</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> Saturday, July 05, 2008 4:29 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Real Customizing of a piano</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><BR><BR>>   Sooo, what makes a Steinway sound like a Steinway? <BR><BR>What David Love said, most particularly the fall board decal.<BR><BR><BR>>Did it <BR>> Usta-B a Steinway, or is it still? I think that it still very much is, <BR>> more of the original timbre and tone remains than is replaced.<BR>> Even the rim and plate are changed, what with treble dams and aliquot <BR>> and duplex mods, plate mounting, etc, etc. It seems that the design of <BR>> everything can be changed, and we still have the wonderful Steinway.<BR><BR>This is precisely why the decal is so important. These <BR>modifications are done to any piano to improve it's sound and <BR>eliminate as many design problems as we can. The result is a <BR>cleaner richer sound. Since the occasional Steinway through <BR>the years has been able to produce a lovely rich sound, <BR>compared to the average piano, good tone is automatically and <BR>forevermore connected with the hallowed name. With the right <BR>fall board decal in place, good piano tone is far more likely <BR>to be perceived than without it, however wonderful the <BR>instrument of less than Royal blood sounds, or however pitiful <BR>the Steinway sounds. That's an unfortunate fact that has been <BR>demonstrated many times. Carefully reproducing the low bass <BR>with the 0.067" core wire and utter lack of fundamental, the <BR>painfully apparent bass tenor crossover, with low tenor honk, <BR>the attack distortion in the killer octave, which charmingly <BR>migrates up and down scale with seasonal changes, the <BR>squalling tuned front duplex, and the ever popular high treble <BR>dink, will get you the authentic Steinway sound. Changing a <BR>few things to produce a low bass with some fundamental, an <BR>aurally transparent crossover without honk, a clean clear <BR>killer octave with no duplex noises, and a treble with a <BR>couple of seconds or more of ring time will also get you the <BR>vastly different authentic Steinway sound, but only with the <BR>decal. A very similar tone quality in a piano lacking this <BR>decal won't.<BR><BR>Is it still a Steinway after making these changes? I certainly <BR>hope not, or we've wasted considerable time and money trying <BR>to make them better.<BR><BR>Ron N<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>