[sdiy] piano reverb

[jhno]

At 800
 -0800 04‰12‰13, Harry Bissell Jr wrote:
>Well this may not be obvious to all... but if you
>do a DIY 'harp reverb' it would be possible to string
>BOTH sides of the harp and make the tension
>equalized... resisting the tendency to twist the harp.

would this not, however, be a DIY _dulcimer_ reverb?

let's keep it straight. :)

i forgot to mention another cp-70 trick. any piano can be converted into a
'tack piano' by pressing thumbtacks into the tip of the hammers. this sound
is usually associated with old-school saloon-style country music. however,
if you apply tacks to the cp-70/80, and run the output through a lush
phaser or chorus, you can get the most beautiful, shimmering,
hammered-dulcimer sound. you can then  re-create much of brian eno's
'ambient 3: day of radience'.

if you are jumpy about poking sharp pins into your hammers, note that this
is exactly what is done by piano technicians during the voicing process. it
makes the hammer more soft and pliable, giving a darker tone with more
diffuse attack.

as hammers get older, they get harder. i like my pianos dark and warm, like
my steinway, and although i avoid pretending to be a piano technician, i
did muster up the courage to poke all the hammers deeply a few times on a
piano we have that was hopelessly bright and abrasive. it did wonders for
the sound.

replacing hammers can be the single best and most cost-effective
improvement for older pianos. i got lucky (according to my technician) when
we ordered a new set for my 1928 model 'o' and got 'the good hammers' from
steinway instead of the 'less good' hammers they were also shipping at the
time. the instrument went from 'nice' to 'world-class'.

>Low and high strings need not be in order, either...

this is an option of course with the cp-70/80 as well. however, after
detuning the entire instrument down about two octaves for a while, i wanted
it back to normal. on this occasion i discovered that i can not tune a
piano's way out of a paper bag, and had to have my technician bring it back
into equal temperament.

he did it in about 15 minutes. the cp-70 has way fewer strings than a real
piano - not only because it has fewer keys, but also because it is split
only between wound single strings and double wires. a real piano goes from
singles to doubles to triples - and tuning the triples is the harderst part.

pesky ear is so sensitive to frequencies - ! especially when beating makes
differences so obvious. a beautiful analogy to aliasing artifacts generated
from sampling audio signals, of course.

jhno