Steinway B Scale Conversion

[Erwinspiano at aol.com]

David
  THe first tension specs I calculated on note 21 says more like 105  to 110 
lbs per string.  Hence the rubber band sound. The  description of the problems 
you elaborate on below is a of course the  reason this is done.  Being 
conservative though I installed only 4  bichords which to my ears are the worst 
offenders to my ears. Boosting the next  two plain wire notes to size 20 also 
smoothed the entire effect. It's really a  very sonorous transition. I also chose 
to not cut off the bottom of the existing  bridge, in case, later on when the 
belly is replaced, & some one else wants  to revert to the original scale, 
they can.
  The real proof of the magic is to listen to astute players lay there  hands 
on the keys & then comment. It may be a subjective thing but never the  less 
a real change.  I also double wrap the mono -chords  on every  Steinway/others 
 except C's & D's. Again, to my ear the  fundamental improvement is dramatic. 
   As a note on the subjective, Jim Arledge disagrees with  me & I'm good 
with that.  I know what my ears are telling me. He did a  beautiful job on the 
strings.
 Call me tomorrow I'll give you the lengths
  Dale

I have a B coming  into the shop that I will do the same thing with as the 
customer is very  unhappy with the scale transition from tenor to bass.  When 
you look at  the scale on that piano you find that note 21 on the original drops 
down into  the 125 lb range from upwards of 155-160 higher up in the scale.  
No  wonder the bottom of the tenor on a B sounds like rubber bands.  When you  
add the high tension leap into the bass, that transition is impossible to  
smooth out—voicing can’t solve all problems!  Separating the bass bridge  from 
the tenor gives the lower part of the bass bridge more mobility and, when  
combined with a bit of rescaling the core dimensions, should enhance the  
fundamental down there.  I think this is a good solution.  What are  the new speaking 
lengths of notes 21 through 24? 
 
David  Love
davidlovepianos at comcast.net
www.davidlovepianos.com 



 



************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech/attachments/20070401/1328b1cd/attachment.html