Susan,
You are my guiding light. I thought Michael Gamble would be. Always check out attached files. But nevertheless some very interesting stories Michael, thank you. Glad he was mistaken, I knew nothing of the make, great history. Glad the conversation started.
Dad arrived at Oberlin I think '78. The new buildings, called Bibbins, and Robertson, are impressive. The architect and the school made arrangements to build a sealed structure, with windows that did not open. It is frustrating what happened at the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, being renowned for its architecural division @ DAPP. They should have an entire cirriculum on climate control, and if not, start one, applying it when building and redesigning their facilities. Didn't have the sense to build and remodel sealed buildings with a bunch of pianos in it, without fluctuating humidity, somehow. Huge drainage problems the whole time I was there, buckets and trash cans all over the place to catch the water. Kind of makes you question the operation from top to bottom. I think having a museum taught Oberlin College a lot about climate control and drainage.
I am a building behind also since I left in the 90s. It has a Jazz building now, I don't even know what it is called.
I did a few courses to complete my degree at Oberlin, one being a composition course with Richard Hoffmann. A problem growing up in Oberlin at schools with the children of Faculty when considering attending Oberlin involves how the Professors get humanized in the process. I used to talk with his son, Paul, at the new gym, Phillips, all the time. In middle school his daughter was my swimming school teacher in the summer. An Obi was Dean here in Cinci during my unfortunate departure from CCM, and the humanization of authorities that went with that may have involved the irreverance it galvanized in me.
Anyhow, one of Hoffmann's biggest concerns when I studied composition with him was what was being done to the shrubbery surrounding Bibbins and Robertson. It created as I recall about 30 feet between the building and the end of the shrubbery, and no doubt was difficult to maintain. It appeared the landscapers from B & G got tired of it. Hoffmann relayed to me how the architect hoped to create a floating effect as you moved past the building, as that the building would be moving at a different pace than the front of the shrubbery as you walked, biked, or drove. And it worked. But they hacked it to pieces, and with the base of the new building exposed, the effect is gone. I don't know if he ever convinced administrators to restore the shrubbery.
To my knowledge, to date, nothing is being disposed of, D, B, M, S, O, A, C, whatever other model. They got somebody in Michigan doing bellywork. That fleet of M's is there.
The arts are so politically committed to the left. It helps Oberlin promote itself probably more than anything else. Milo's conflict with alumna Lena Dunham explains why the best undergraduate musicians will always end up at Oberlin, not Cincinnati. Cincinnati is too conservative.
------------------------------
Benjamin Sloane
Cincinnati OH
513-257-8480
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2017 20:25
From: Susan Kline
Subject: Here's a Beauty
<<In another thread I claimed people don't know the stability of verticals because of using ETDs. Riles people up.>>
<grin>
I've been known to suggest that people are dulling their musical tuning discernment by spending so many hours on automatic looking at ETD's. Riled people up. A lot.
As for the overdampers, I came by the knowledge naturally. First, I was taught by Ted Sambell, and of course when he was a young tuner in Britain during WWII and just afterwards, these "cottage pianos" were everywhere. He explained how helpful the Papps mute is for them. Then, I moved to Stockton, CA (yes, I really did that ................... I can hardly believe it now), and people were bringing over container-loads of birdcage pianos, many of which were past redemption, and flogging them for about $300. Well, they were pretty. Of course, I tried to redeem them anyway. Those which could be made to play were made to play. It was before we used CA glue on loose tuning pins, which would certainly have been helpful.
You can either remove the rail for the soft pedal with the muffler felt on it (it just lifts out of slots at the ends) and put in the muting strip, or you can mute each note in the temperament individually using the Papps mute -- doesn't hurt to have two if you want to do that. It's nearly a toss-up, but I found using the muting strip to be slightly less fuss.
If individual notes refuse to damp, you can adjust them at the bottom of the birdcage wire. If lots and lots don't want to damp, work on getting the action slightly further back. I've been known to shim the slot for the little clips on the sides. A small distance can make a big difference in the damping.
I think your dad came to Oberlin after I left. I was there from 1964-7. The conservatory was brand new. I was a lot closer to new than now, myself. Are all those practice room M's still there? Someone back then said there were more Steinways in one place at Oberlin than anywhere else on earth. This was long before the "all-Steinway school" thing got going.
------------------------------
Susan Kline
Philomath, Oregon
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2017 05:14
From: Benjamin Sloane
Subject: Here's a Beauty
Susan,
Please don't be offended if I don't know this. Have never been asked to work on one. Born in a Steinway bubble to a Steinway tech who worked Oberlin. If you don't know, ask.
As for Challen & Son, I never heard of the piano or the story of Abbey Road and the alleged famous Challen. I say alleged because as I file the client in the dinosaur piano business program PT biz, which provides over 200 makes of pianos in a default list to enter the make of a client's piano with a click, not by typing, the Challen does not appear, and had to be typed in. Sorry the creator of PT biz should have heard of it.
Couldn't call myself a Beatles fan. More interested in Paul's hero, Fats Domino, and the guys Fats imitated, Huey Smith, James Booker, Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint; Harry Connick Jr. called James Booker his greatest influence. A lot of my education is on the playing side of things. Those are the guys who will teach you how to play. Not Paul. Not John.
Don't understand? In another thread I claimed people don't know the stability of verticals because of using ETDs. Riles people up.
But all this information is priceless. Really. Glad I asked.
------------------------------
Benjamin Sloane
Cincinnati OH
513-257-8480
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 04-21-2017 02:51
From: Susan Kline
Subject: Here's a Beauty
I don't think I understand this thread. You haven't tuned an overdamper before?
If it is as conventional as it looks, you can undo the nut in the middle and the little clips on the sides, lean the action forward, and remove the soft pedal muffler felt rail. Then you can put a muting strip into the middle register.
By all means, use a Papps mute. It can reach through the strings and you can pluck them with it to find out where you are.
Once you've tuned the center string of the muting strip area, and the bass and treble, lean the action forward again, take out the muting strip, replace the soft pedal muffler felt, and tune the side strings, using the Papps.
Sometimes people have written note names near the tuning pins which also help you keep your place.
Forgive me if you already knew all of this.
------------------------------
Susan Kline
Philomath, Oregon
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 04-20-2017 21:06
From: Benjamin Sloane
Subject: Here's a Beauty
Made in 1903. London.
Challen & Son famed piano from Abby Road Beatles.
How can I tune this without deactivating the dampers? She paid me to ask you.
------------------------------
Benjamin Sloane
Cincinnati OH
513-257-8480
------------------------------