<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Re: Increasing Crown</title></head><body> <div>Hello all (and Dale, who I've CC'd since he could be off list at present)</div> <div align="center"><b><br></b></div> <div align="center"><b>A re-crowning exercise.</b></div> <div><br></div> <div>A local colleague, David Kinney, is currently rebuilding a Bösendorfer (late-ish model 200, about 20 year old example I think). The sound board was collapsed but otherwise without any visible panel defects. As an exercise in sound board re-crowning, he commissioned us to build him a set of crowned sitka ribs for fitting in between the originals. We made them 30 mm high in the middle by 15 mm wide, so as to maximise the added stiffness without adding too much weight to the board.  We made them only long enough to match the un-feathered lengths of the adjacent original ribs</div> <div><br></div> <div>I understand that the result is very successful. After doing the usual total internal refinish he has reset the down bearing throughout, which required a considerable packing height for most string sections. He says that about 50% of the unstrung downbearing angle sunk out once the piano was pulled to pitch, which is about on par with new factory boards. I haven't heard the piano yet as he is still doing the action. It'll be interesting to hear it once its up and running.</div> <div><br></div> <div>Ron O.</div> <hr> <div><br></div> <div>An excellent post Terry,</div> <div><br></div> <div>At 8:16 AM -0500 16/3/05, Terry wrote:</div> <blockquote type="cite" cite><br></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Verdana">Oh I've got pretty thick skin. I actually saved that post - I felt like maybe it was a statement that I've finally arrived! I had never been accused of that before! I've never thought anything is below me, I still work on spinets - but there are definitely things that I am finding less satisfying (i.e. spinets and band-aiding-to-death old worn-out uprights).</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Verdana">Regarding old upright, my thoughts are really less about patching up a soundboard and more about the general condition of the entire beast. What good is it going to do to improve a soundboard on one of these great-a-hundred-years-ago uprights when the hammers are nubs and don't all hit the right strings, all the action centers are loose, the bridge is cracked, the hammer butts are worn through, the pinblock is shot, the keys are all wiggley, action parts fly off while tuning, strings don't render worth a hoot, it's plagued with false beats, etc. The soundboard is the least of that piano's problems. Who cares if it has lost its crown? Replacing keytops and rebushing keys would likely do more to improve most old uprights than farting around with the soundboard - but even then, you still have all the other things. Sorry to say, but I often find myself recommending to old upright owners that they would be much better off finding a (cough-choke) "nice" 20-year-old Kimball console for $500 or $600 than trying to patch up the old upright. The quality old upright, IMHO, simply does not need $500 worth of band-aids, it needs $20K of remanufacturing.</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Verdana">And as far as<i> "I think Terry's statement was informative of his position on the subject, how else to express it?"</i> goes - that cuts to the heart of the matter - how else to express it? I really think folks need to lighten up a bit. Folks state opinions on this list. They share the approach they take to address various situations. It doesn't mean they are saying that any other approach is bad. We just had a thread about action center cloth - some like the Renner pre-glued stuff - someone posted that the plain cloth works well. Is that guy stupid because he doesn't use the same cloth as me? I don't think so. Do I think it is ridiculous to take the time to put two dabs of glue on the cloth for each flange? Well, actually I do think it's ridiculous - but that's just me - at the same time, I also know that guy may even do it that way and still be faster than me and his bushings are great. Nothing wrong with ten techs doing something ten different ways. I guess that's what I'm trying to say here - when you read someone's statement about how they do something or what they would do or not do, just realize that most of the time that's all they are saying - a statement about what they do - they are not (usually) saying that you shouldn't do it some other way!</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Verdana">As far as participating on this list goes - I'll have to get a whole lot smarter than I am now to ever get offended. When someone suggests that something I said was stupid or wrong or bad, I figure they are probably right (.....not!). So how could I get upset? I think I can understand how someone with a lot of knowledge and experience (obviously, not me) can get frustrated with people constantly suggesting that their whole approach to piano work is baseless. As one researches and experiments and observes over many years, they really can't avoid forming some pretty firm opinions on how things work and what works and what doesn't. And sure, they will tend to state maybe somewhat forcefully what their opinions are (and maybe even state it as fact - so what? - it is to them - hey, some people even make the bold statement that the theory of evolution is a fact!). But why some find the need to challenge these opinions, I don't know. If a response is to better understand the subject matter, that is one thing, but it seems it is sometimes to simply tell the other person they are wrong - and such an approach can only end up being divisive and argumentative.</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Verdana">Enough gibberish for now.</font></blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote> <blockquote type="cite" cite><font face="Verdana">Terry Farrell</font></blockquote> <div><br></div> <div><font face="Arial"><br></font></div> <x-sigsep><pre>-- </pre></x-sigsep> <div><font face="Times New Roman" size="+1" color="#0000FF"><b>OVERS PIANOS - SYDNEY</b></font></div> <div><font color="#000000"><i>   </i></font><font color="#0000FF"><i>Grand Piano Manufacturers</i></font><font color="#000000"><br> _______________________</font></div> <div><font size="-2" color="#000000"><br> </font><font color="#000000">Web http://overspianos.com.au</font></div> <div><font color="#000000">mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au<br> _______________________</font></div> </body> </html>