Strange bass tone in modern chappell

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kyaw han
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Strange bass tone in modern chappell

Post by kyaw han »

:shock:
Pardon me if I can not describe precisely, I'm just a piano player with DIY hobby. I came accross chappell console (serial no. suggested about 20 years old), C3 and its neighbouring 3 notes have strange tone - "striking metal barrel" sound ( they rather sound "Dong" to me and too loud as well) I tried voicing hammers to kill overloud tone but the sounding still the same. They sound different from the rest of bass tone. The C3 is the most offending one. I think starting from B3, they are sat on the treble bridge, instead of sitting on the bass bridge as usual. They are copper wound strings and no trace of string changing as piano is still quite new. The rest of bass are sounding ok with good and powerful treble tone. Need to twist them or change new string??

And another strange thing is that on the plate, the Chappell is not casted together with the plate. It is a separate plate itself and screwed to the main plate on top right corner. And no crest on the center of the plate (near the action center bracket) where most of the piano manufacturers put the brand decal casted on the plate. It is just blank. The serial no. is printed on the plastic-looked material batch and stuck on the right hand side panel. There is no other chappell decal on the plate else where, except on the fall board. Action ("Lanzer" if I remember correctly) and keys are made in 1 of UK manufacturers.

Is that chappell made in mass production or genuine? I believe the modern ones are taken over by Kemble. But no trace or mentioning of Kemble anywhere.

Any advice would be appreciated.
PianoGuy
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Post by PianoGuy »

Sounds like you have a Chappell "H". There's a known issue on this model with poor scaling over the break, otherwise it's a generally good piano. I have improved this in the past by substituting the first covered strings on the main bridge with steels of slightly smaller diameter.

The crude frame casting, bolt-on name, plastic serial number badge and lack of central logo is normal, and it was indeed made by Kemble, prior to Yamaha's collaboration in design. Kembles often had no frame identification at all, sometimes the metal badge was forgotten!

The action was made by Langer.

Best wishes,

PG
kyaw han
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strange bass tone on modern chappell

Post by kyaw han »

Thanks a lot for quick info PG!! I will try replacing with C3 first for metal string and see how it goes. Slightly smaller diameter than original string but it will still be fatter than the next higher ones? (ie. Db)
Quite surprise to hear that Kemble made this type of strange scale design.
Yes, you're right. The action is by Langer and is quite responsive in touch.
Have a good day!!
PianoGuy
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Re: strange bass tone on modern chappell

Post by PianoGuy »

kyaw han wrote:Thanks a lot for quick info PG!! I will try replacing with C3 first for metal string and see how it goes. Slightly smaller diameter than original string but it will still be fatter than the next higher ones?
Correct!

Good luck, you may need to experiment a bit. It won't be perfect, but it'll certainly improve matters.
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