<!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 5.50.4134.600" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; = BORDER-LEFT: #000080 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=rbrekne@broadpark.no = href="mailto:rbrekne@broadpark.no">Richard Brekne</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> September 21, 2001 12:13 = AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: 1 string, 2 = strings, 3 strings or more</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV>  <P>Well... here (in this scaling issue) you seem to think more like = the technician / engineer... and play up all those incidents of where your = technical insights coincide with comments you hear from musicians.... = and you apparently include ..what ... all pianists ?? Re read your lines if = you will.. <P><FONT color=#000080>I include those musicians with which I have = had experience. I can't speak for any others. </FONT> <P><FONT color=#000080></FONT>  <BLOCKQUOTE>>>Depends on whether or not those defects of = character are audibly <BR>>>offensive to the musician. If they are I see no = reason for it to carry on >>for another 100 years offending the very = folks it's supposed to be >>pleasing when a new bridge(s) and some = revised scaling can solve >>most of the problem.</BLOCKQUOTE><FONT color=#000080></FONT><FONT color=#000080></FONT><FONT = color=#000080></FONT> <P>This was why I asked for clarification you see. </P> <P><FONT color=#000080>No, I don't see. </FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </P> <P>What musicians are we talking about?  </P> <P><FONT color=#000080>As I said above; those with which I had experience.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </P> <P>And in the Petrof thread you made the point that perhaps we should = not think like technicians so much.... (read throw away all that technical = insight) and hear what pianists have to say. Now if I was to do that = full out.... Petrofs or not... I would have so many conflicting ideas = swimming around in my head it would ridiculous. (grin.. not that I don't = already). Seems to me like the situation is reversed now. Seems like this time = around it is you who are defining what is a "good piano" in terms of what is = technically sound. That you get some number of musicians to agree with any = subjective assessment shouldn't suprise anyone. Or what ? </P> <P><FONT color=#000080>Does it come as a surprise to you that = technically sound pianos are also pianos that sound good? The reason I started = looking at the design of pianos in the first place was because my clients--musicians--were complaining about the tonal performance of = their highly regarded S&S pianos. And I started thinking about the differences between reputation and performance. The two are quite = unrelated, you know. Also unrelated are selling price and performance. And = country of origin and performance. And a few other things we've come to accept as = gospel in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The things that = are related are good design and good performance.<BR></FONT>  </P> <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE="CITE"> <BR>> Heck... lots of folks think the = Steinway O is a horribly scaled piano... <BR>>and by some standards perhaps = this is so... but then there are folks who >just love this S&S model. = <P>And we are often asked to improve things for the former and we = are generally not asked to improve things for the latter. It's really = the owners/musicians choice. </P></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>Sorry, you lost me here... what former and latter are we talking = about... I referred to the Steinway O only in that paragraph...But if you meant = that you are asked often to improve the Steinway, and not the Petrof... = well heck... I wouldn't pump a lot of money into a Petrof either. </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>Then you get lost easily. Obviously, if an = owner is actually happy with his/her Model O they are not going to come to us = to have it redesigned and remanufactured. And, I wouldn't want them to. I'd = send them elsewhere, there are lots of really good rebuilders over here who do = great, traditional rebuilding work. We work with the folks who are unhappy = with the performance of their Model O's. What is it about this that is so hard = to understand? </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>So, you have a well-publicized contempt for = Petrof pianos but that doesn't mean everyone else in the music world = must share that contempt. Some people actually like the way they sound, at least = they seem to prefer it to the hard, linear sound typical of many modern = pianos that you would probably consider to be superior instruments. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>Not everyone can afford a Steinway and = sometimes even those poor folks would like to have their pianos remanufactured even = if--based solely on the name glued to the fallboard--they are pathetic excuses = for musical instruments. And so, while a large part of our work is on = S&S pianos, quite a lot is also on pianos that many technicians would = consider to be inferior instruments. It doesn't matter to me. The end performance = is what is important to me, not the name on the fallboard.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV>And as for justification for improving a Steinway.. that seems = typical enough for high performance products. You see that all the time in any = branch... and folks what want this kind of customization seem to know = enough to separate a Porsche from a Polskie Fiat.... tho you do find the = occasional lotto millionare....:) and everyone knows they are different then = normal millionares.. </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>I don't consider the Model O--or several = other S&S models, for that--to be a 'high performance' piano. At least = not in its original form. I've encountered quite a few off-brand pianos = (pianos I rather suspect from your expressed attitude you would hold in some = contempt) with considerably better performance potential than the Model O can = deliver on its best day. We work on them all and give them the same level of = effort and work. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>So what's your point?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT color=#000080>Del</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>