02/28/2016
A series of pictures documenting the process of rebuilding our 1889 Steinway C by master craftsman Jim Ialeggio.
Feb 2016. Here's the latest from Jim.
Soundboard, panel ribbing, bridges complete and the entire fabricated soundboard structure is glued into the case. Will be applying finish to the board and bridges this week, and get the finished plate installed in the piano, ready for stringing. Its coming along really nicely...I'm really pleased how I was able to use my new protocol which allows me to create feedback loops and tailor the soundboard structure, before the entire panel is installed in the rim...quite jazzed about this protocol and how much control it gives me regarding the structure of the board...fun stuff!
Here's what Jim has to say about this round of photos.
"Most of the pics are of the keyboard, which needed a lot of restoration. More importantly, the geometry of the key lever was set up for 19th century really light hammers and 19th century reduced key dips. Since you have pianists coming in who don't have a lot of time to get used to this piano, I thought it was important to give them an action leverage that is more familiar to modern pianists. So the key proportion job removes the old balance rail, epoxies the old balance point mortise, and places the new balance rail at an optimized position. This is important, because the key geometry, being the longest lever in the action, has a huge effect on what the piano feels like to play. The original key proportions were different at the two ends of the keyboard (6.3-6.7 ratio), so I gave the whole thing a single key leverage, and lowered the leverage a bit."
A series of pictures documenting the process of rebuilding our 1889 Steinway C by master craftsman Jim Ialeggio.
Feb 2016. Here's the latest from Jim.
Soundboard, panel ribbing, bridges complete and the entire fabricated soundboard structure is glued into the case. Will be applying finish to the board and bridges this week, and get the finished plate installed in the piano, ready for stringing. Its coming along really nicely...I'm really pleased how I was able to use my new protocol which allows me to create feedback loops and tailor the soundboard structure, before the entire panel is installed in the rim...quite jazzed about this protocol and how much control it gives me regarding the structure of the board...fun stuff!
Here's what Jim has to say about this round of photos.
"Most of the pics are of the keyboard, which needed a lot of restoration. More importantly, the geometry of the key lever was set up for 19th century really light hammers and 19th century reduced key dips. Since you have pianists coming in who don't have a lot of time to get used to this piano, I thought it was important to give them an action leverage that is more familiar to modern pianists. So the key proportion job removes the old balance rail, epoxies the old balance point mortise, and places the new balance rail at an optimized position. This is important, because the key geometry, being the longest lever in the action, has a huge effect on what the piano feels like to play. The original key proportions were different at the two ends of the keyboard (6.3-6.7 ratio), so I gave the whole thing a single key leverage, and lowered the leverage a bit."