<HTML><BODY STYLE="font:10pt verdana; border:none;"><DIV>Hey Ron O and =
list</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> Although the Ma=
son & Hamlin BB has tremendous potential I find that many e=
specially from the late 1970's are tonally disappointing and some do=
wn right dismal and it's not all hammer problems. I also have =
one from that era that's to die for and it had the green monsters an=
d poor action to start. What gives!!!</DIV> <DIV>  =
;Having worked on a many of these I think it's safe to say that when the =
bellywork is set up right they're truly Glorious(with the break bei=
ng the exception, BUT AS IS IN ANY GOOD PIANO ,THE BETTER THE BELLY SET U=
P THE LESS NOTICIABLE THESE WEAKNESSES ARE. (Sorry not shouting). B=
y setup I mean rib crowned,nicely diaphramized, nice bridge work and very=
healthy and adequate amounts of bearing and voicing of course. &nb=
sp;If this isn't the case then the kind o problems Terry F. is having wil=
l not lend themselves well to a Full Mason BB sound. It's a rather fickle=
system. It really needs a cutoff bar added as well as detuned front dupl=
exes with less counterbearing angle as they frequently break strings.</DI=
V> <DIV> Who knows maybe you could get it to soun=
d like a Yamaha if the boards that stingy.I.E loud attack short decay.&nb=
sp; Terry do some plucking of the strings in the treble and if the sing f=
reely and bloom with out plucking real hard you may have a chance with a =
good hammer. Able, Ronsen and Isaac hammers all work well in these =
pianos. If you need samples I can send you some of each, I think.</DIV> <=
DIV> My suggestion would be to install a few of these &n=
bsp;hammers and voice them and see which way the wind is blowing.</DIV> <=
DIV> </DIV> <DIV> Best---Dale Erwin</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <D=
IV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <=
BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5=
px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FON=
T: 10pt Arial">----- Original Message -----</DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUN=
D: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt Arial; COLOR: black"><B>From:</B> Overs Pianos</DI=
V> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, October 25, 200=
1 1:27 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial"><B>To:</B> pianotech@ptg.=
org</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Voicing M&a=
mp;H BB</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>Terry,<BR><BR>>Junk hammers? I'll buy t=
hat. But why the HUGE change in tone across the<BR>>break? I would thi=
nk that if all the hammers are whatever grade of junk,<BR>>then this m=
ust go way beyond hammers only.<BR>><BR>>Del or Ron? Any input from=
a belly/scaling perspective?<BR><BR>While I am unsure whether the BB you=
describe bears any scaling or<BR>bridge layout resemblance to the curren=
t BB, I had a look and listen<BR>to the new BB which was displayed at Ren=
o (at a quiet time in the<BR>loading dock after the convention when our p=
iano was being loaded out<BR>on the Monday morning). My impression of thi=
s instrument was that the<BR>impedance matching across the break between =
the treble and bass<BR>bridge was perhaps one of most varied I had encoun=
tered on a 7'<BR>grand. Its even more dramatic than the Steinway B. Both =
get<BR>progressively thinner toned heading down towards the break, then<B=
R>'boomy' and 'fat' at the first note on the bass bridge.<BR><BR>A quick =
look at the location (read distance) of the bridges out from<BR>the inner=
rim told the story. Tapping on the ends of the bridges<BR>further confir=
med my suspicion (yes you can do this even when the<BR>piano is strung - =
try it!). The upper end of the bass bridge was<BR>located far away from t=
he inner rim (as is typical on so many<BR>pianos), while the lower end of=
the treble bridge headed over towards<BR>the bass side to end up too clo=
se to the rim. The poor tonal<BR>transition was mostly a consequence of t=
he bridge location on the<BR>board, but the 'hockey stick' treble scale d=
idn't help either. The<BR>tension was obviously falling away rather=
badly towards to lower<BR>tenor area of the long bridge. I would like to=
get a copy of the<BR>speaking lengths and wire diameters if any one has =
info on hand. If<BR>anyone's got the scale I would like to get it as an a=
ttachment. Send<BR>it to mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au<BR><BR>When there =
is a major change in the response of the board over the<BR>break, there i=
s nothing the voicer can do to fix the transition.<BR><BR>Actually, I was=
somewhat disappointed at the design of the BB. I had<BR>heard so much ab=
out the piano before going to Reno, so I was<BR>expecting something reall=
y good.<BR><BR>Ron O<BR>--<BR>______________________________<BR><BR>Websi=
te: http://www.overspianos.com.au<BR>Email: =
mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au<BR>_____________________=
_________<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>