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crispin

I cannot comment on the Yamaha sound.... but I can weigh in a bit on tuning and voicing. We bought a Bechstein upright some years ago... and various tri-string notes went out of tune quickly and this really destroyed the 'Bechstein' sound. I had a long discussion with Bechstein over this and they se...

crispin

Revival of an old thread: but interesting to see what has happened during the past five years: Bravo that your son plays from memory ... I was interested initially just to observe the differences between the French teaching and British teaching system. The municipal music school in our local town in...

crispin

Dear NewAge Whether the tuner vacuums out the piano or not is something I cannot really comment on... but not to remove the bottom panel when he had previously fitted a Dampp Chaser system seems a bit lax. Surely he would want to look at the pads etc and that all the cables etc were still secure etc...

crispin

I agree ... people do care and it should be made clear. however I would find it improbable that a piano is partly assembled in Germany - then shipped to China - and then back to Germany to be finished... Much more probable is that it could just cross the border into an eastern european country.... H...

crispin

My investment in a Dampp Chaser system has brought tuning stability and piece of mind.

crispin

I really liked the Bechstein pianos that I tried - the sound is absolutely to my taste (I came very close to buying a Bechstein). There are two ranges: the Academy series which are made in China, and the "C Bechstein" models which are made in Germany. I found it impossible to find detaile...

crispin

Well Our Bechstein Acadamy 124 is labelled 'MADE IN GERMANY' so I guess that this means the majority of the fabrication must be in Germany? The hammers are each stamped 'MADE IN GERMANY'

This is our second (the first was replaced) and it is truly a great piano

crispin

I am not sure if it is relevant - but I can find the Zimmermann Z1 advertised in France for 8590 euros = 7300 GBP - which is quite a reduction from the £11,000 that you quote. Having said this - I also say that I would never buy a piano (again) at the place I see this Z1 advertised at. We bought a B...

crispin

I believe there are more things that can affect the humidity.... Dryness (low humidity) is caused by cold air (from the outside) getting heated - so if the house is a drafty old house - then humidity can be low. We all know that one should not place a piano close to a heater - with underfloor heatin...

crispin

I live on the swiss-french border and often days go by where the outside temperature never gets above 0oC .... then this cold air is sucked into the house (we have an open fireplace) and the room humidity even at the modest temperature of 20oC is often around 20%. We now have a humidifier - and the ...

crispin

No... I was not defending anything contained in the comment of NewAge... except that my understanding of English leads me to suspect that NewAge did mean exactly what he wrote... otherwise his sentence is really just stating the obvious - I believe he did not want to state the obvious. I agree with ...

crispin

Always rather dangerous to generalise though, and I would say that music in a minor key can also sound happy and music in a major key can sound sad. Don't you mean that the other way around: major making music sound happier and minor keys making music sound sadder? I think NewAge means exactly what...

crispin

Just as a follow up ... I had a Dampp Chaser system fitted to our Bechstein Academy upright since the humidity swings were causing quite some shifts in tuning. Since fitting it some months ago I have monitored the humidity inside the piano (on the side away from the humidifying water tank, Since tha...

crispin

I disagree with the comment tuning and toning/voicing will solve this problem.. well I agree with the tuning part... but I had a similar problem and found that the bad sounding tone was produced by the unisons going out of tune.... so retuning it should sort out this problem. I had a bad experience ...

crispin

Dear NewAge My upright piano has just been tuned ... the tuner spent 90 minutes inside the house... the last 5 minutes he spent playing the piano. In my opinion, the time needed to tune the piano depends on how close it already is in tune. In my case : it was the first home tuning for a new piano (a...

crispin

Well .. the list price in france for a black Boston UP126E is 12 keuros... so a price of 6.2 k£ sounds a pretty good price to me. The Boston is actually made by Kawai ... so certainly you should also look at these. At a list price similar to this Boston in france - there are the Bechstein academy/Zi...

crispin

Let us hope the action is not saturated with oil.... and that NewAge can wipe off the excess WD40 as soon as possible... this is a story to be continued... however since this forum appears to be read by many expert tuners and dealers- I have two questions: To the professional tuners/techs: What lubr...

crispin

Digging a little bit more ... and I find that WD40 may not be the stuff for a quick blast of WD40 at pivot points Exactly how many pivot points are involved? Did he go anywhere close to the piano action? Found this on the US piano world site: it will not comfort you... http://www.pianoworld.com/foru...

crispin

Dear NewAge In your situation I would also not be too happy... but we need the input of the experts to tell what in reality we should expect (1) I find 45 minutes somewhat short time to tune a piano... I asked how long a tuning should take at a rather good Bechstein shop.. and they claimed 1h 20 min...

crispin

OK - I will tell you in a week or two... right now I guess that the piano was in a humid state ... the heater bar is often on (warm to the touch) and the humidity inside the piano (measured at the lower part of the piano on the opposite side to the water tank) has dropped from 58% to 55% RH during t...

crispin

I can tell you that one big Japanese manufacturer (which in the near future may also include a well known English brand, maybe even an Austrian brand, although I don't yet know the details) would treat warranty claims on an individual basis. First, products should not be modified, which would inclu...

crispin

Let us consider what can go wrong with this system... the humidity sensor could go wrong and this Dampp Chaser system could either dry out your piano too much or make it too humid. In either case the piano manufacturer will say it is not their responsibility ... if you prove your case ... the Dampp ...

crispin

I must admit that I am a little confused about the problem of fitting a new plug... In France - and I assume in Britain it must be the same - I can buy a plug in any hardware store - I do not think you need to be a rocket scientist to afix this plug onto an electrical cable. In addition the Dampp Ch...

crispin

It came with a bottle of water treatment, a watering can and no (zero) replacement pads.

crispin

Well - today my Dampp Chaser was fitted ... it took the technician about 2 hours to fit it ... but he liked to talk (long discussions about voicing the piano etc). He says that he fits about 2 systems per month. In the end I agreed that he drills a hole through the bottom of the piano ... and he cut...

crispin

Dear NewAge Luckily the local Dampp Chaser installer around here - not only answers his phone but has a star given by Dampp Chaser to those who install many systems.... however I get the impression that these systems are not so popular in France ... However - I am curious why you are installing this...

crispin

We had problems with unisons going out after a very short time so that each note had beats and the tone became really awful. An expert (the manager of a very fancy piano store) came to inspect the problem ... and declared that it was a voicing problem. He proceeded to voice selected notes .. and con...

crispin

Dear NewAge

Did you ever get a quote for fitting a Dampp Chaser in an upright? A local fitter wants to charge 610 euros ttc - is this reasonable?

crispin

Unfortunately this poor piano has quite a tuning history ... It was originally tuned at 442 .. however after a visit from the tuner from the store where I bought it.. I found that he had tuned it up at 446 (however he had noted in the log that he had tuned it to 442) He also had done a very bad job ...

crispin

Just looking at the octave c4 to c5 - (all unisons are not good ~ 9 weeks after tuning) I determine the following... ? means that I do not know - and I would guess that it is the central string that has moved. () means that I am not 100% certain. The majority of right strings are guilty so according...

crispin

It is a Bechstein Academy 124 upright... I know that the tuning pins are very very tight... so a lot of force is needed to turn this pins... given that - I wondered whether such tight pins made it more difficult (maybe much more difficult) to set the unison so that it does not budge.. but I am not a...

crispin

......,maybe you should just try a different tuner..... Indeed I will if the experts can think of no other reason... however I have tried two other tuners recently - and these guys could not even tune the unisons correctly ... finding an acceptable tuner is not so straightforward - but the question...

crispin

It is not heavily played - maybe half an hour per day...

crispin

We have a piano that has tuning problems... however the biggest problem is not the absolute pitch shifting (although this does happen) but the unisons going out of tune. Usually the piano sounds in tune for about 6 weeks .. and then starting around F4 progressively more and more notes start having p...

crispin

Dear New Age I have just spent the morning at a very interesting Bechstein shop in central France.. more on this visit in another thread (yes - I was looking at soundboards) ... however my last question to the owner of the store was about these Damp Chaser systems.. I was very surprized how negative...

crispin

Indeed - you are correct... I became confused with the wooden frame around the soundboard... indeed the back of the soundboard is accessable at the back and the front at the front...

crispin

piano-a.jpg I have a more fundamental question: what is the soundboard. This was provoked by NewAge saying that the pianos were arranged back to back - so that he could not access the soundboard. On my Bechstein Academy... the soundboard (at least what I call the soundboard) one can access and feel...

crispin

I can't see how the planks for the belly could be pre-curved as that would entail fine jiggery-pokery in two planes I tend to agree... but then how come the Yamaha and Pearl River touched up by NewAge felt smooth? I have not been to a dealer to feel soundboards of the piano... all I know is that th...

crispin

Keep puling the piano up and down will make it very unstable, that will be a factor in your piano not staying in tune You make it sound as if I have made a positive choice to put it up and down.. I was happy to have it at 442... and I thought I would leave it to the experts to decide as appropriate...

crispin

Why A442 and not A440 I am not sure ... (a) the piano arrived tuned to A442 (b) the regular tuner said that concert pianos are tuned to A442 nowadays... but I do not know if this is the done thing.. After being at tuned to A446 .. the regular tuner came and retuned to A440 - and then took it up to ...

crispin

NewAge Please investigate at the dealer - have a good look and feel... on my piano both by touch and by eye these ridges are clear.... As far as I know ... and I await to be corrected by the better informed ... there are two methods for making soundboards.. (1) each piece of wood is curved so that t...

crispin

As some of you know - I am having this ongoing struggle with unstable tuning. By elimination - it has to be the soundboard... and my tuner pointed out that there are significant pressure ridges on the soundboard - and to him this indicates that the soundboard is changing shape. Are such pressure rid...

crispin

Indeed the tuner came from the dealer... and he retuned the piano... which had gone completely out of tune by the time he came. He says that it just newness.. and probably he is right.... however given that this is the 5th tuning during this first year I find the newness a bit excessive. In addition...

crispin

Dear Myg Where are you located? Are you in the UK? Did you try the piano before you bought it? Certainly you are being led a dance with this story that the double strike in normal or due to your playing technique. Keep pushing - the dealer should sort out these problems without too much pressing - b...

crispin

This thread seems to be taking a diversion - which is fine but: .The OP has paid alot a cash for a piano and is entitled to advice from whoever it maybe. Actually I do not feel entitled to advice - however I have found this forum to be full of experts who are happy to give out advice .... and this i...

crispin

Its purpose is to stop those sections (dead lengths) of the strings resonating and interfering with the sound since they will resonate at the wrong pitches! Yes I realise why the felt is there - it is just that in this case it seems unnecessarily hard and unnecessarily compressed - certainly the wi...

crispin

Dear Chris Thanks for the reply... and indeed it could just be 'newness' and next year will settle down and stay in tune for extended periods... and I hope this is the case since I have no confidence in the dealer sorting out the problem ((a) he is 150 km away and (b) I have read some rather negativ...

crispin

I know of one Zimmermann and two Academys thus afflicted, and all problems are pressure bar related. So what did you do? Did you loosen the strings.. remove and reseat the pressure bar - and then retune? You say that you have met tuning instability on 1 Zimmerman and 2 Bechstein Acadamies - how man...

crispin

How old is this piano the PB looks tarnished We bought it less than a year ago... these marks appear to be finger prints - I believe that they can easily be removed - but at this moment I prefer not to touch... What a fascinating thread. Whilst I personally dislike Bechsteins, I would nonetheless h...

crispin

I feel that where the string enters the hole in the wrest pin, in the pictures, there is too much of a "loop"which may account for some tuning instability. Hmm - this sounds just like the message I received from Bechstein that I quote below... eventually they send some "expert" ...

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