CAUT

  • 1.  Is this Baldwin SD stringing incorrect?

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-13-2018 10:41
    Tuning a 1985 Baldwin SD yesterday, I heard a few brief, faint weird overtones in the top two sections, where there are unusual fittings at the proximal end of the front duplexes. I then realized that the string segments from those fittings back to the tuning pins were unmuted, passing unimpeded over the thin felt laid out below (see pictures). These segments are up to four inches long! In the rest of the piano, the string underlayment felt mutes these out.

    I'm happy to weave in some string braid if this becomes problematic, but I'm curious if this was done incorrectly. I also wonder if those front duplex fittings are tunable. One seems to be in a different position from the rest. They're held with what looks like a rivet. I don't see any way to move them.

    Thanks for the incredible amount of experience you all bring to this list...

    --Cy-- String underlayment felt


    String underlayment felt closeup

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    Cy Shuster, RPT
    Albuquerque, NM
    http://www.shusterpiano.com
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  • 2.  RE: Is this Baldwin SD stringing incorrect?

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-13-2018 11:46
    Looks original to me - meaning they looked like that back in the 80s when they were new. Those front duplex fixtures are a patented Baldwin "feature" that many on this list, 10 and more years ago, complained about bitterly (harder than the soft iron of cast iron capos, lots of potential for noise within them, bolted to the plate). Yes, some of them are slightly different from most, and I never could figure out what/why the pattern was. Yes, the felt not touching was normal, at least to see (whether by design or by incompetent manufacture is unknown, probably the latter). 

    Perhaps Del Fandrich can shed a little more light on the subject. There is plenty of conversation about them in the archives. I entered "Baldwin front terminations" ad came up with quite a bit.
    Regards,
    Fred Sturm
    "Since everything is in our heads, we had better not lose them." Coco Chanel






  • 3.  RE: Is this Baldwin SD stringing incorrect?

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-16-2018 15:13
    The odd termination pieces were used to quell some very loud harmonics occurring in just those notes. The different configuration changed the front duplex length just enough. At least this is what I read in research notes I found in Baldwin's library. 

    ddf

    --
    Delwin D Fandrich
    Fandrich Piano Company, Inc.
    Piano Design and Manufacturing Consulting Services -- Worldwide
    6939 Foothill Ct SW -- Olympia, WA 98512 -- USA
    Phone 360.515.0119 -- Mobile 360.388.6525





  • 4.  RE: Is this Baldwin SD stringing incorrect?

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-13-2018 11:52
    For our 1971 SD-10 in Newport, OR, we put felt strips under those front segments in the capo sections. I also worked on the fittings by slacking off the wire and rubbing the bearing contact surfaces with strips of emery cloth, which helped the capo noises a lot. Only after doing it and then thinking about it did I realize that by letting the strings off far enough to pull them to the side, and then pulling them back to pitch, I was moving some wire around the hitch pin, which put fresh wire against the bearing points. Worked well.

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    Susan Kline
    Philomath, Oregon
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  • 5.  RE: Is this Baldwin SD stringing incorrect?

    Posted 11-13-2018 17:30
    Make some punchings and slide them under the strings. If your felt strip is too thick. Place a razor blade on a riser of appropriate thickness and slice along the length a few times on each side. Rip it apart, punch out the punchings and place the rough side of the punchings on the bottom. It doesn't have to be under great compression, just enough to hold it in place which will dampen the segments.

    If you have pre-cut punchings that are too thick, drill a hole in a scrap of wood of appropriate depth to slice with a razor blade. Then you'll have scrap punching for something, maybe under felt for the rep lever button. Time consuming, yes but it displays craftsmanship.

    FWIW, I thought I'd slip in a plug for Counter Bearing Aliquots to eliminate ratcheting in the tenor section. 

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    Regards,

    Jon Page
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  • 6.  RE: Is this Baldwin SD stringing incorrect?

    Registered Piano Technician
    Posted 11-29-2018 18:45
    Jon,

    Wendell Eaton really ripped into me some years ago for doing something similar (to your counterbearing bars) on Steinways.  

    Of course it's of no consequence because he's no longer around and I ignored him anyway, but seeing that brought an unpleasant memory back and I just had to say something.  Hope nobody's offended.  Just a flashback I guess.

    Pwg

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    Peter Grey
    Stratham NH
    603-686-2395
    pianodoctor57@gmail.com
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